Demon Slayer's Purpose
by Kdjd3HD
Summary: After the long battle with the defeated Upper Moon 3 Akaza, Tanjirou Kamado, in a battered state and unable to move any further, had died, and met with the first Breath User Yoriichi. With his goal of turning Nezuko into a human now completed, the young Demon Slayer must now seek a new purpose. To help others in need in a new world filled with Heroes and special powers.
1. Prologue

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

**This stort contains spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba past the anime and near the end of the manga. If you aren't on Dimensional Infinite Fortress yet, be warned. There's a lot of spoilers here.**

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**Prologue**

The battlefield at its current state is a mess. A whirlwind of fists and slashes could be seen in a deserted room where two people were duking it out in a battle to the death. Upper Moon number 3, Akaza was cockily exchanging blows with a tall figure in a green and yellow haori, who was desperately slashing his sword as hard as he could, using form after form of the Water Breathing technique, in a desperate attempt to cut off the head of the demon.

"You've used up all of your Water Breathing forms now, Giyuu! But honestly, I'm amazed that you've lasted this long against me by yourself. I'll do you a favor, and end this quick. Farewell!"

Inside, Giyuu Tomioka, the Water Hasira, knew that he couldn't go on anymore. His body was at its limit, and his sword was snapped in two, holding a short edge in his hands. He had no way of defending himself against his moves. He looked behind the demon, and saw the unconscious figure of Tanjirou Kamado, the boy that he had found on a snowy hill, whose whole family had been murdered by Muzan Kibutsuji. The one that he had been protecting for the past 5 minutes with his life.

_Crap, he's still out. I can't hold out any longer. If I die here, he'll be finished off right after!_

Giyuu saw the demon's hand stretched out, claws reaching for the middle of his chest, which were reaching to pierce his heart.

_I'm done for._

He lost hope when suddenly, a splash of blood appeared between the two of them, where the arm which would have sealed his fate had suddenly disappeared. He looked up, and saw that same arm soaring through the air, and a man who's hair was sun-red crouched down with his Nichirin Sword in his hand.

_Tanjirou cut his arm off in the middle of his attack. The sound is different from his regular breaths, even his hair and eyes are different. I was saved by Tanjirou._

Akaza was confused, and also terrified about what just happened. How did he block that attack when he was so near-death? He didn't even move! However, he had no idea that there was someone behind him.

_Every single cell in my body down to my cheek hair is telling me to kill this guy right now. Something about him has changed. This is bad! I have to kill him, here and now!_

**"Technique Deployment, End Style: Chaotic Blue Metal Afterglow!"**

Tanjirou opened his eyes, and what he saw was a scene that he had never seen before. Everything around him was in infrared. He could see the muscles, brains, and everything inside the two figures doing battle.

_So this is the place that Dad was talking about… the See-Through World._

Azaka was standing upright, after throwing a hail of assaults at Giyuu.

"Come on Giyuu. Don't die like Kyoujiro and Tanjirou. Become a demon." He once again threw the offer out to the Water Hashira, only to be ignored. However, Giyuu was looking behind the demon.

_He hasn't noticed Tanjirou yet! There's your chance, while he can't see you! Go for his head!_

Instead of taking advantage of his momentary element of surprise, the now sun-haired Demon Slayer chose to yell at the top of his lungs. "AZAKA! I WILL CUT OFF YOUR HEAD! RIGHT NOW!"

Giyuu was beyond confused about what he just did. _Idiot! Why did you call out his name like that!_

Azaka finally noticed the imminent threat and turned around.

_How is he still alive after that attack! It doesn't matter. My compass will be able to detect it. But something's strange. It's like he has no battle spirit!_

He turned around, and was greeted with an upside down Tanjirou, with his sword cutting a deadly arc to his exposed neck.

_**Dance of the Fire God: The Setting Sun**_

Tanjirou struck at the right side of his neck, and dragged his sword through in one motion. Giyuu and Azaka both had bewildered looks on their faces.

_Impossible…_

The demon's head then fell off, and his body was starting to disintegrate, all the way down until he was just powder in the wind. Tanjirou flipped back around from his position in the air upside down, and tried to land on his feet, but lacked the energy to move any of his muscles. The last thing he saw was the ceiling, and Giyuu struggling to get up from his position from the ground.

_Crap, I'm losing consciousness! Muzan is so close by, I just need to get to him, and cut off his head!_

Tanjirou struggled to keep his eyes open, but the jarring headache forced him to close his eyes, as he faded into unconsciousness.

* * *

The sun blazed brighter than Tanjirou was normally used to when he regained consciousness. He was laying up on what felt like long grass. He tried opening his eyes, but the sun was directly on his eye, and he was forced to shut them again.

_What just happened? Where am I? I'm supposed to be at the fortress with Giyuu and all the Hashiras..._

He sat up, covered his eyes with one hand, and sat up with the other. He stood up and got a look at his surroundings. His eyes were greeted with a familiar sight; the sight of a large wooden cabin in the woods.

_Is this my house? No, it looks like my house, but this isn't the same, or it doesn't feel the same. It never felt this bright before, it was always snowing back home. How am I here though? It's so quiet, and there's no sign of destruction or a battle anywhere..._

Behind him, leaves rustled, and the sound of dirt and leaves crunching was apparent, followed by the voice of someone he had never heard before.

"You're awake."

Tanjirou was startled for a moment, and he turned around him to find the source of the voice. He looked towards the trees, where there stood a man who was wearing a plain red haori over an orange kimono with a sword strapped to his waist. He had red hair, with the same shade as his own, with a mark in the shape of what appeared to be a fire on the right side of his face. What stood out the most to Tanjirou was that he had the same hanafuda earrings that he had. He recognized that from the description from somewhere.

_Is that…. the first breath user? Yoriichi, right?_

He spoke again. "Your name is Tanjirou."

"Ummm…. yes. I'm Tanjirou Kamado."

"Kamado. Makes sense, I almost mistook you for Sumiyoshi."

_Sumiyoshi? Is that my ancestor's name? Probably, from what his words were implying._

"You're the same as him…. except you've been hardened to become a Demon Slayer. But your eyes radiate compassion for others, even for demons."

After the century-old slayer had finished saying his assessment of Tanjirou, An awkward silence passed between the two, one waiting for the other to speak. Yoriichi decided to break that silence. "If the slayers from my time were like how you are now, things would have been different. I wouldn't have been banished from the Corps otherwise."

_He was banished? For what? I thought he was the one who had the most powerful breath, and the one who taught all of the others how to improve their fighting! Why would they do that?_

"You must be wondering what my story is. I'd recommend sitting down for it. After all, we have all the time we need."

Unsure of what to say to that, he just agreed to his request. Tanjirou and Yoriichi both go to the porch of the house, and take a seat, both looking at the horizon.

"Over here, it's just been me for the longest time. I wanted someone to listen to me. What came up were the faces of Sumiyoshi and Sukayo, his wife. You and Sumiyoshi are nearly identical in every aspect." Tanjiro didn't know how to respond, so he just let Yoriichi continue.

"From time to time, when I take glimpses into the real world, and I see the smiles of all of the others there, it makes me happy. I'm happy to see all of them happy."

_I guess I don't count as "them" anymore. If I'm here, that means I'm probably dead._

"This world….. is beautiful in every single way. From the people in it, to the blue skies above. I believe being born in this world is a blessing in itself." Yoriichi had a very sad look on his face, as he started to recall past memories from so long ago.

"My mother was a very religious woman. She frequently prayed for strife to disappear from this world, every single day. She prayed every day to the sun god to shine on my deaf ears. She was the one who gave me these earrings as charms. At the time, I never spoke, so I made her worry often, and I felt very bad about that. My brother was a very nice boy. He was constantly worried about me, even when my father struck him and told him to forget me. That day, he gave me a flute and told me, 'Blow this when you need help, nii-san will save you.' He smiled, face bruised, and told me, 'you don't have to worry about a thing.'"

_That's such a sad story. I'm not sure what I would do when I was in his situation._

"As a child, I was unwanted. After my mother had died from her illness, I had left the house. I had been told to enter the priesthood, but I never went to the temple. Instead, I opted to run as much as I could, as far as I could, and see how far the sky reached."

Yoriichi paused in his monologue, staring at the now darkening sky, the slightest glimpse of stars beginning to make its way into the sky. He then sprung a question on Tanjirou.

"Have you ever sat down on a hill at night, and taken a look at the stars? Have you taken some time, and appreciate the beauty of it?"

Tanjirou pauses and thought about his answer before giving it. "Yeah, I have. After a long day of training, when you get tired and your limbs are sore, it really helps you get your energy back. Being outside at night helps me keep training to get stronger."

"That's how I felt when I ran away from home. I ran the entire night, but my feet never felt tired, or wanted to stop. I kept running and running to the mountains, where I ended up in a place that was filled with compact fields and paddies. And in the middle of one, I found someone standing there all alone. She was a girl that was about my age. She was holding a bucket, and wasn't moving for the longest time. I was confused, so I asked her what she was doing. That was when she told me her story. Her entire family had died from a disease. She was lonely, because she had lost everyone that she had known, so she brought tadpoles from the paddies back to her home."

It was obvious to Tanjirou that the girl the first sun used was speaking about was very important to him. Listening intently to Yoriichi's memories, he tried to find out how he came to be the way he was now.

"But when the sun started to set, she released all of the tadpoles that she had collected in her bucket, and put them back into the paddy. I asked her, 'You're not going to bring them home?' She told me that she felt bad about separating the tadpoles from their parents and siblings. She was lonely, and had no family left. She was just like me, just searching for what made them happy. To her, it seemed like having someone there was that happiness. So then I asked her, 'How about I go home with you?'"

Once again, Yoriichi paused before continuing. "When I said that, she turned around, and started to stare at me. Her eyes were glistening with tears, and they were like obsidian. They were beautiful under the reflections of the sunset. The girl's name was Uta. From that day on, we started to live together. She was someone who loved to talk from day to night. But, thanks to that, I learned that people saw things differently than I did. She told me she never heard of being able to see through living creature's bodies."

_Wait, is he talking about the see-through world, the one that I accessed when I was fighting Azaka? He was able to use it even when he was a child?_

"That was the first time I learned about the reason behind my small feeling of alienation. 10 years later, we became husband and wife, with a baby on the way. During her last month of pregnancy, I went to fetch a midwife to prepare for the birth. However, on the way, I ran into an old man trying to cross the mountains, trying to rush over because his son was on the verge of death after suffering a wound in battle. I accompanied the old man and his son to their place. I decided that I would wait until tomorrow to get the midwife. I got home as fast as I could, but it has already turned to nighttime. Uta has been killed, along with the child in her belly."

_He came home to his family murdered, just like I had._

"That day, I had learned a lesson. Even if something is more precious to you than your own life, others can and will easily trample over it."

Remembering those terrible moments had taken a toll on the old slayer, as his voice started to waver towards the end of the sentence. Tanjirou could hardly blame him. He knew how it felt to experience that, to come home one night and find your family decimated. He wouldn't wish that on anyone else.

"My only dream was to live a quiet and happy life with my family. A small home with our futons standing side by side, at a distance where I could see their faces and easily reach out and touch their hands whenever I wanted to. But that would never come true, only because demons exist in this beautiful world."

After the monologue was finished, a long silence ensued. That was when Tanjirou finally spoke. "Was this why you became a Demon Slayer? To get revenge for your wife and child?"

"I became one to make the world into a better place, so that what happened to me doesn't have to happen to anyone else. That was my purpose of becoming a Demon Slayer. Just as your purpose of becoming a Demon Slayer to save your sister from being a demon, and turn her back into a human. Everything happens because of a cause."

Hearing Yoriichi mention Nezuko, Tanjirou had suddenly remembered something.

_If I'm here now, that means I'm dead, and I can't do anything to turn her back into a human! Tamayo is dead too, so that means there isn't a chance of them figuring out a cure, either!_

With a worried tone etched in his voice, he asked the million-yen question. "Yoriichi-san! If I'm here, does that mean I'm dead? Does that mean there's no way I can turn my sister back into a human?"

Yoriichi didn't respond immediately, but when we did, he calmly explained to Tanjirou the situation. "Before Tamayo left to intercept Muzan at the home of Kagaya Ubayashiki, she had completed the prototype medicine for the transformation from a demon to a human. It has already been administered, and Nezuko, along with Sakonji Urokodaki, Shinjuro Rengoku and Kiriya Ubayashiki are with her, waiting for the effects to take place. Even though I do not know the result, there is a chance that she is already able to turn human. If that happens, then Muzan's plan to intercept Nezuko and gain the ability to conquer the sun will be impossible. You have already done as much as you can do, and you went down in battle to your last breath."

Tanjirou listened with wide eyes as he heard what was happening with the people that he cared about back down there.

_Tamayo was able to do it. She made the medicine, and she turned her back into a human. Thank you. Thank you so much._

"So does this mean I'm dead now? Do I watch from up here while the rest of the Hashiras fight Muzan?"

However, he did not expect in his wildest dreams the answer to that question.

"That depends on your next decision."

Tanjirou's head perked up at that sentence. "Is there a way I can go back? Is there a way I can go back and help them?"

"Unfortunately, you can't do that. Once someone is dead, there's no way they can go back to how things once were."

Tanjirou's risen hopes came crashing to the ground as he learned the circumstances. He couldn't go back. He was stuck here. What would he do now? Yoriichi mentioned something about a decision earlier, right?

"Wait, didn't you say something about making a decision? Is there something else I can do?"

Yoriichi stood up from the porch that he had been sitting on, and started to walk towards the trees again. He motioned for Tanjirou to follow him.

"Follow me. It would be easier for me to show you."

Tanjirou jumped up, and he sprinted after Yoriichi's speeding form through the woods. They were running for a good 15 minutes until the light started to show between the leaves of the trees. The woods ended, the walls of trees faded away, and what greeted them was an ever expansive beach. Miles of sand, which were seemingly endless stretches out as far as the eye could see in both directions, to Tanjirou's left and right. In front of him was a vast ocean, water was everywhere, no end in sight.

Once Tanjirou had appeared, and stood next to Yoriichi, overlooking the sea, Yoriichi put his hand out as if he were trying to reach the sun, and made a pulling motion. The sun suddenly shifted downwards, disappearing into the ocean, the sky went from bright to dark in a matter of seconds. The moon moved at rapid speeds to replace what had been the sun moments before.

"Before I start explaining, I would like you to keep a very open mind. Things that I explain here are things that you may not believe for a while when you first hear them. When I heard about this, at first I didn't think it was possible. However, this is something you must understand before you make your decision."

Tanjirou nodded, mentally preparing himself for the impossible. He paid full attention to Yoriichi, and what he was about to say.

"To put this as simply as I can, there are other worlds beside this one. Worlds that are similar, yet different. What we mainly want to focus on for now are the differences. The differences can vary, from events in history occurring differently, civilization being more advanced than others, and some things not existing in the first place. Many worlds exist that don't have demons, but have other types of evils. Some worlds exist where people cannot live in a peaceful environment, which leads to constant warfare. However, right now, we are mainly focusing on one world."

"This world, many hundreds of years ago in a country called China, a baby had been born that was radiating light. It was a complete mystery on how these powers came to be, but as the generations kept passing by, more and more of these people had special powers that they can use. Today, every 4 out of 5 people that exist have a special power, and these are known as quirks."

"These powers helped the world grow faster in many ways. For many people, having quirks is a good thing. They make people more powerful, and more able to protect themselves. However, even though these powers exist, there are still people that opt to be evil, and to do things that screw other people over for the benefit of themselves. More and more people are willing to do bad things just because they have quirks that allow them to get away with doing them. Society called them 'Villains'."

"In response to these villains, people who had strong quirks well suited for combat, and the drive to help others in need, opted to solve this problem. They were the better and more effective version of police, and they translate from our world's Demon Slayers. They were known as 'heroes'. More and more villains appeared, which caused more and more people to step up to the plate to take care of them. Heroes. They gained fame, riches, and glory. Soon a new system emerged. The word 'hero' became a new profession, one that provides hope to others."

"They protected people from the villains and other evils that existed, and they got money and fame for doing so. It became something that everyone wanted to be, but it wasn't at all an easy task. It requires determination, willpower, and a good heart in order to become a good hero. In the present day, there is one hero that stands above all others. He is extremely powerful, and is admired by everyone. The people feel safe, knowing that he is there to protect them. He is known as the Symbol of Peace, All Might. He is thought to be invincible, and unbeatable. That he will always be there to protect them."

"What people aren't aware of, is that All Might will not be there to protect them forever, and when he finally is unable to fight, there are going to be many many villains who have been suppressed by All Might's influence, and heroes will be needed in order to stop chaos from erupting. Many people will die because of this, and there is only one way to prevent this from happening. A new symbol must rise. Someone, like All Might, who can protect others fearlessly, and make the people of Japan feel safe."

Tanjirou listened intently to the story of this world, and at the end of it, he was left speechless. As a kid, he has always wondered if there were other places like the one that he had lived in, with other people that did not know the other existed. For that to be real, he didn't know what to think of that. His thoughts instead wandered to this new world. Heroes. Villains. Quirks. How people lived. He has imagined what life would be like if demons didn't exist, but even if they weren't there, there would be some other evil that kept people from living in happiness.

"Having the mark means a lot more than just being gifted incredible strength and the ability to access the see-through world. Having the mark shows our determination to save. To help others that need it. The ability to use that power for the better of others. And now, you have the mark. It's only fitting, a whole world waiting for you out there. A new purpose that can be set out for you. Tanjirou, if you became a Demon Slayer to make the world a better place, to help as many people as you could, and there was a whole world of people in need, what would your decision be?"

"It's just like you said, Yoriichi-san. Seeing the smiles of everyone being happy, it makes me happy. Being able to live in the world is a blessing in and of itself. If I had the chance to help as many people be happy as I could, then why wouldn't I take it?"

Yoriichi then pointed out in the horizon, where the moonlight shone on the water's surface. "The gates are open to you here. All you have to do is go towards it. Keep on pushing, no matter what comes your way, in order to complete your purpose." After ending his speech, he then disappeared in a gust of wind.

Tanjirou looked behind him once again, taking in the view of the trees, and the sound of distant crickets echoing throughout the forest. He turned back to the water, started to run, and jumped in. He started swimming, as fast as he could, towards the moonlight. Towards a brand new world.

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**A/N This was a short introduction of a crossover that I've had in my mind, and have been inspired by other stories that I have read. I'm planning on having each chapter be about 10K-15K words and I will try making chapters as soon as I can. I'm aiming for the next chapter to be about 15K words in the next 3 weeks to 1 month.**

**Just a note, the place with the old home is not the same scene as Manga chapter 186. He isn't in Sumiyoshi Kamado's body, he is in his own. Yoriichi is shown to be a pretty depressed man in the manga, but here it's a bit different.**

**For the people who like to point out edits and try to help give suggestions to make stories better, I'm looking for a beta reader, because I'm not the best of writers out there. I'm not asking for the reader to make specific edits or anything like that, I just need someone to tell me their opinions on the chapter, and how they would rate it, etc. Use the PM feature on FanFic to PM me if you are interested.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**(Giyuu and Tanjirou vs Azaka: KnY Manga chapter 185)**

**(Yoriichi Backstory: KnY Manga chapter 186)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Before we start the chapter, I would like to thank some people for their advice and criticisms on the last chapter. Thank you to John Prodman and Darkbeast42 for your helpful inputs, and I will be sure to implement them after this chapter goes up. **

**This will come up sooner or later, so I might as well address this now. For the question that might say "I'm ripping this and that part off of 'My Ideal Academia' by Saraak", well, you aren't wrong. I am taking a lot of aspects from that story. Which aspects will that be? Well, you will see later on. My intention of this isn't to Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V his story and place it in this one. Before this goes up, I will probably DM him in order to ask for permission to use some of the things he may or may not have come up with himself. Just to come clean with myself here. That's all I have to say. Enjoy!**

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

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**Chapter 1**

The lengthy streets of Musutafu were packed with people walking to and from their destinations, with people leading their lives as normally as they always have been. Tall street lights shone bright over the streaming traffic, and tall buildings could be seen everywhere as far as the eye could see. Breaths were visible in the chilly night air, as a sense of peace was instilled within all of the civilians, because they knew if conflict ever arose, a nearby hero would easily come and save the day.

When living in a society full of quirks, heroes, and villains, 'peace' is a loose word. 'Peace" is something that can be broken pretty easily, as quick as a blink of an eye.

A resounding explosion went off near a bank entrance. Many people were blown off of their feet from the impact, and fell on the road. Cars swerved around, nearly crashing into each other with their sirens wailing in the thin air. Chaos ensued as all civilians in a half-mile radius around the explosion started panicking their heads off, running into the streets without a care of where they were going. At the bank entrance, a large figure stood up with a steel rod about 10 meters in length in one hand, and what looked to be a heavy gun of some sorts in the other. He wore a mask with the face of a lion painted on it. He climbed to his feet and started laughing maniacally.

"HAHAHAHAHAAA! NO ONE CAN STOP ME WITH THIS QUIRK THAT I HAVE! BRING IT ON _HEROES_!"

The yells of the civilians running away could be heard from a long ways away, and some of the words could even be heard over the chaos.

"What's happening?"

"RUN!"

"Where the hell are the heroes?"

"SOMEONE CALL A HERO!"

On the exterior, the man was simply crazy, and without a care of what his actions were causing. On the inside, it was a completely different story.

_Good, I announced myself so all of the heroes' attention will be on me, no one will notice anything inside the bank. While the heroes 'take care' of me, all the money will be up and gone._

"Seriously, no one? Hahaha! Where the hell is all that 'bravery' now?"

While the villain was attempting his distraction from the bank onto him, a large dragon-like figure that was camouflaged by the clouds was flying towards the scene as fast as she could. While she was in her dragon form, her eyesight could be on par with that of a hawk's, however, that didn't change the fact that it would take a while to get to the scene.

_It's going to take me about 10 minutes to get there, 7 if I really push it. I have no idea how much damage the villain might cause_.

She scanned the area around the destruction zone. She didn't see anyone close by; they had all fled thankfully. There was no one around that would prevent her from using more of her strength. That was the one downside of the Dragon Hero Ryukyu's quirk. While it was extremely powerful, it was also easy to destroy large amounts of area, and cause millions of yen in property damage. She had to learn to limit her power so she wouldn't destroy everything in sight.

As she was monitoring the movements of the villain and everything around the area, she noticed something among the alleyways. It was running… towards the villain? A hero? No, it looked way too young to be one.

_Why is a little boy trying to play the hero now, especially against someone of this caliber? He's just going to get himself killed!_

* * *

Feeling out of breath, dizzy, and with arms feeling like lead, Tanjirou awoke with his face firmly planted on the floor. He opened his eyes to meet the night sky, which took whatever he had left of his breath away. The full moon was shining bright, which illuminated the stars around it. It was, to sum it up in a few words, a beautiful sight.

_Where is this place?_

He didn't recognize any of the area around him at all. Tall buildings blanketed the alleyway he was in with shadow, and they were of unusual design, ones completely different then he was used to.

Then, the memories hit him. His talk with Yoriichi, new worlds, and that agonizing swim. That had to have been at least 5 hours of swimming, so much more than he could handle. Even then, it was still crazy to know about the existence of a completely different world. For as big as his old one was, how was there even enough to fit a completely different one? Not to mention Yoriichi had said 'more'. How many more were there?

_I'm panicking. I need to calm down. I'm here now, that's all that matters. Nezuko is safe._

New world, new beginnings. He had to leave all of his problems in his other world behind him, and focus on what was right in front of him. At least one thing is good in this world; there were no demons. No immortality, no absolute regeneration, and no Muzan. Definite plus.

He went to move around, but he realized he was still lying down on the floor. He picked himself off the floor, ignoring as much of the pain in his limbs as he could, and stood up. Right off the bat, he could tell something was amiss. Everything looked so… tall. He looked down, and he saw that the floor was frighteningly close to him.

"Did everything get so much taller, or did I get shorter?" He accidentally questioned out loud.

Something was off about this world, or something was off about him. Anyway, it was the dead of night, and he was alone in the middle of nowhere. Right now, his main priority was to find a mirror so he can check his current condition.

"**Total Concentration Brea-** gah!" He clutched his chest, his lungs started to burn and he started to feel light-headed. That wasn't a good idea. Wait, with all of the training that he had to endure at the Butterfly Estate, even if he was in a terrible condition, he should still be able to use Total Concentration Constant….

Something is horribly wrong. Even during the fight with Akaza, where he had been beaten within an inch of his life and beyond, he never felt his Total Concentration waver like this.

When the burn had started to subside, he got back up, and started to run. What was the closest thing he could find that was close to a mirror? Something was brutally different. He wasn't himself. Where was the closest thing to a reflection…

_There! A puddle! That will do!_

He ran towards the large puddle, and looked at his reflection from above it. And for the third time in the past 6 hours, he saw something that should have been by all means completely impossible.

What was staring back at him was not an 16 year old 'man', as Sabito had claimed him to be, but a young boy. Chubby cheeks, bright red eyes, and tiny, tiny arms. It looked like he was 8 or 9 years old at this time.

_How the hell? Oh wait, I'm in another world. Why am I surprised?_

It wasn't like Tanjirou to be sarcastic, but with everything that happened to him that day, it was probably to be expected that he was acting a little out-of-character. He was a little boy now, what could he do about it? That somewhat explained why he couldn't use Total Concentration well anymore. Since he was only a young boy, his lungs were way more fragile than they have ever been in his time as a Demon Slayer. His strength might also have been lacking quite a bit, because he had lost all of the training that he did with Urokodaki.

It would be a pain to re-do that year of hell he had gone through, but it had been fundamental for his many exploits. If he wanted to help people here and be a proper 'hero', he had no choice but to break his body again.

There was one main issue, however. Now that he had discovered the problem with his body, what can he do about it? What does he do now?

While he was continuing his inner monologue and thought organization, he heard a resounding explosion that shook everything around him. The trees started to shake, tilting to a dangerous angle. Windows shattered, its shards flying everywhere. The dirt rose up, and started to blow like sand in a sandstorm. Tanjirou was nearly blown off of his feet, but this was next to nothing compared to the shockwaves sent from the force of Akaza's punches. He firmly put his back foot down, and put his hands in front of his face to stop the wind and sand from streaming into his unprotected eyes, and feeling his footing being a lot more secure.

Then, the screaming started. Strained yells assaulted his ears. It was so loud, he thought his ears might burst.

_Even at night, there are this many people out? More importantly, what caused that explosion?_

He started to run. He ran towards all of the noise, which was just getting louder and louder, and ignored his lungs screaming at him to stop. Even at his fastest speed, he was nowhere the speed he once had. His stamina would drop without accomplishing anything.

_If you master the correct way to breathe, you'll be able to dance forever, too._

His father's words rang in his mind as he ran. If he used Dance of the Fire God without his Nichirin sword, and without using any of the actual styles, then he could keep running longer. If his dad could dance in the blistering cold with fragile lungs for hours on end, then he could use it to run a bit longer.

"**Dance of the Fire God!"**

He took a sharp yet full breath through his mouth, and exhaled, and he increased his speed. It was still slow, but it was better than nothing. He was running through the maze of alleyways, guided only by the screaming of the civilians, which seemed to get even louder. That's when he heard a deep, crazed voice.

"HAHAHAHAHAAA! NO ONE CAN STOP ME WITH THIS QUIRK THAT I HAVE! BRING IT ON _HEROES_!"

The voice was quite loud, loud enough so that anyone in the vicinity could hear it loud and clear, and pinpoint its location. There was no logic behind why someone would do that, it would only make their plans a lot harder, but Tanjirou didn't have the luxury to worry about what he might have been thinking.

_It's just ahead! I'm almost there!_

The cold wind once again hit his face as he found the exit to the alleyway and ran outside. He stepped outside, and stopped to catch his breath. However, when he looked down, and put his hands on his knees, he saw the charred remains of concrete. Tanjirou looked up and took in all of his surroundings, and his eyes widened.

Buildings decimated. Cars flipped over and fire coated nearly every piece of material that was flammable. Everywhere he turned his head, there was destruction. All except one, tall building, with the words "Musutafu City Bank" over it. A tall man with a lion's mask, carrying a pole on one hand and something on his other hand that resembled Genya's Nichirin Revolver.

He had heard the crunching of Tanjirou's feet as he came out of the alleyway, and turned his gaze towards him. "This isn't a place for children like you, boy. I suggest you run as far away from here as you can."

During his time as a Demon Slayer, he had seen many horrific things, things that someone of his age nor in any age wouldn't and shouldn't have had to have seen in their lifetimes. He had seen heavily maimed bodies, some of his own family members, and of other victims of a passing demon. Even with those bodies on his conscious, he still took a level head, and fought, with everything he had. Whenever he came across something like this, thoughts passed through his head, that if he were there sooner, maybe the person would have lived.

During the Hasira Trials, when he was practicing with Giyuu for a few months, he had told him one night of the time that he was chasing Muzan on the night that his parents had been killed. He had told him that maybe if he had been there sooner, his parents would have been alive. However, Tanjirou didn't blame him, even after hearing the entire story. He had been in that situation many times himself, and it was something you had to accept once you received your uniform and blade.

You can't save everyone every time.

It was his experiences, experiences like these that strengthened his mental fortitude and his ability to keep calm in dangerous situations, ones much like the one that he was in now. Standing in front of an armed and dangerous villain, empty handed, and with nowhere to run. Every decision that he made could put people in danger. He knew that the chances of coming out of this unhurt and with the villain defeated were impossible. Even with all of this, what kept him going was the fact that the one in front of him was no demon. He was human, like him, and everyone else.

It was this thought that let him stand tall, legs firm, and his voice high-pitched yet clear as he yelled over to the villain. "Why did you do this? Why did you destroy all of this? You could have hurt so many people!"

Tanjirou tried to reason with him. He was used to everyone telling him in his own world that 'demons cannot be reasoned with', and 'they are too far gone to understand what being a human means', but not every demon was like that. Nezuko, Tamayo, and Yushiro were prime examples of this. Nezuko had been turned from someone who was dangerous to him, and was about to eat him, however with a few words, she was calm again. The power of words can do a lot, and it never hurts to try.

However, it didn't seem like it would be worth it today. The villain just looked at him, and started to laugh. He stopped and stared at him, right in the eye. "Now is not the time for a little kid to play the hero. It's also none of your business why I do what I do, nor is it your role to understand it. Now, leave and don't bother me. As villainous as I am, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth to pound up a kid."

Tanjirou's eyes perked up and hardened while he said that. "The people around you were innocent. They had nothing to do with you! So what was the point of doing all of this?" he yelled, his high-pitched voice straining.

"You're still going on? Just get out of here, you goddamn wannabe. I don't care about what I did, and I don't have time for this!"

His widened eyes narrowed, his body was burning with anger. Blatant disregard for the lives of innocents, and being proud of it. Aside from the looks, and regenerative abilities, what made him any different than a demon? The only difference was that he could be stopped. Right here, right now. It wasn't something that he could get out of with ease, even with his experience, but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

"**Total Concentration Breathing!"**

Tanjirou dashed towards the villain, leaping over debris and pushing off it to increase his momentum. He ran directly in front of him, jumped and threw a punch straight towards his jaw. The villain, easily reading the movement, blocked it with the palm of his left hand. However, he was surprised at the amount of force that punch had delivered. He was expecting it to not have affected him whatsoever, but that punch had the force of what would equal to a regular adult.

_He's not a normal kid, but that's fine. It doesn't matter, nothing I can't beat._

He saw the kid's leg swing up to try and kick him on the side. The movement was slow, so before it could land, he dropped the rod he was holding, clenched his fist, and thrust it into his solar plexus. Tanjirou saw the incoming fist, but with his right hand encased and his foot coming off the ground, there was no room to dodge. He was sent flying back, tumbling on the charred debris.

He looked down on the downed and sputtering kid and told him, "Stay down. I said it already, I don't want to spill your guts if I don't have to. "

_Strong, but not enough to beat me. I put up a distraction for long enough. They said 5 to 10 minutes to unload the money from the bank. It should be time._

The villain turned around and walked over to the bank, when a large gust of wind nearly blew him off of his feet. He staggered, and turned around, and in his peripheral vision, he saw a large, dark figure in the shape of a dragon gliding over to his location. He regained his footing, and started to take a mad dash in the cover of a building, but he wasn't fast enough.

_Crap!_

The dragon raised her paw, and knocked him off balance, and subsequently knocked him unconscious. She landed on the ground, and started to shrink in size, all the way until she was a regular woman who looked to be in her early 20's. She sported blonde hair, a dark red qipao with a pale, green trim, and a green headband with 4 claws that covered the right side of her face.

She landed next to the villain, and checked to see if he was unconscious. Confirming that he was out cold, she turned her right arm into a large claw, which subsequently allowed her to form a wing on her back, grabbed the villain's back collar and with a sharp flap from her wing, accelerated and stopped at the limp form of Tanjirou. She turned her arm back to normal, and turned him over to check for injuries. There was a large bruise that was on the left side of his head where it collided with the ground, and his left arm was bent in a slight angle where he tried to break his fall.

Seeing his condition, she turned back to a dragon, picked both of them up, and flew over to the police station to drop off the villain and get the kid some medical attention.

* * *

All Tanjirou felt when he regained consciousness was a searing pain in his head. It felt like his brain was pounding against his skull, trying to force its way out of his head. He was still unfamiliar with this type of pain, because he knew that his head was notoriously hard. He had slammed it into Inosuke, someone who prided himself on strength and his body, and it had made him nearly pass out, and have a long lasting knot on his head.

He had only felt this once before, when he had first used Dance of the Fire God against the Lower Moon 5, Rui. The one time where he was forced to to far beyond what he was able to handle, and still got utterly crushed. If Giyuu hadn't been there, he and Nezuko would have both died that night. It was the first time he had felt that fear of death that made his life flash before his eyes. And then forced him past his limits.

But he couldn't do that today. It took one hit. One hit that put him down, and he couldn't do anything about that.

He opened his eyes to, as usual, a blinding white light that forced his eyes shut again. How many times does this have to happen? He sat up, and put his hands over his eyes, and opened them again so they could get used to the light. He blinked for a few seconds and removed his hand.

He was in a strange room, one that was somewhat similar to the medics that were in his home world. Except that this one looked far too….. He couldn't even describe it. Perhaps strange?

Wires were strapped to his bare chest, and a constant beeping sound was heard, matching the cadence of his heartbeat. His tattered Demon Slayer uniform, shortened to fit his current body, was holding on to its bare threads, with only it's pants still there. Taking his eyes off of his clothing, he looked around the room. A desk was at the corner of the room,with an assortment of tools made of metal sitting atop it. It reminded him of Tamayo's box in some ways. They had things that looked like her medicine that allowed demons to recover without eating humans. She had used it on Nezuko and brought her back to full strength.

Other than that, there was nothing else notable that needed to be mentioned, as he heard footsteps outside of a door. It opened, and an old-looking man fitted in a white gown, and had another strange item hanging on his neck. He glanced towards Tanjirou, and he noticed that he was no longer unconscious.

"Oh, you're awake, young man?" The doctor asked him. His voice was deep yet kind.

He hesitated a bit before responding. "Y-Yes."

The doctor smiled. "Ah, that's good. I must say, not many children such as yourself would willingly stand in front of a villain who destroyed 3 buildings in an instant, much less charge at him. I certainly am impressed at your courage."

Tanjirou only sat there in silence. To the outside, it seemed, no, it was extremely reckless on his part to charge him with what he had. He knew he was going to get reprimanded for his actions, but on the inside, did he regret it?

No. He had learned many valuable things that night. One, that he was absolutely no match for the villains of society with the state that he was in. He had many long months of training over him. Two, he had greatly underestimated what quirks were capable of. Even if his enemies did have human faces on them, that didn't prevent them from using their power at their leisure to get what they want. He still didn't figure out what that villain was after, and why he did what he did.

But then again, Yoriichi did say that there were people here that were capable of acting much like the demons that he was used to. He had ignored that, and thought that just because they were incapable of accessing a Blood Demon Art, they would be easy to stop. He didn't stop to think about his actions carefully, which led to his defeat.

"However, it isn't my job to discuss your actions. That comes next after this. First, there are your injuries to discuss. Overall, the only serious injuries present were to your head and leg, but with my quirk, it should be mostly healed by now."

It was true. He felt no pain in his arm, which had been used to throw him away, and had also hit the ground incredibly hard. He raised said hand, and felt his head. Despite the headache, which was even now starting to fade away, he felt very little pain there.

"On another matter, there is something more technical to discuss. While you were unconscious, which, by the way, was for 4 hours, we extracted some blood to test it, and figure out your identity. However, the DNA or your fingerprint does not match any of the records in our online databases. It is akin to you appearing out of nowhere. Now, there have been cases like this in the past, where people have shown up without any form of identification, and have sustained amnesiac-like symptoms. This is what we need to confirm. What is your name?"

He didn't understand some of the words that he was using, such as 'database', and 'DNA', however, he would need to answer the questions to avoid any suspicion about his origins. He had no idea how others would react if they found out that other worlds exist, if they haven't already.

"I'm Tanjirou Kamado."

The man had something that looked like a metal slab, which was shining on one side, and tapping it with his fingers on various spots. "And how old are you currently?"

This was something that he wasn't all too sure about. He definitely was between the age of 8 and 10 years old, but didn't know exactly when based on his height. He had grown out of this height after 10. He had to come up with a number, so why not between?

With a little external hesitation, he replied "9 years old".

Continuing to tap on it, he continued to ask questions about who he was. "Do you remember the names of your parents?"

"Tanjurou Kamado and Kei Kamado."

The doctor heaved an inward sigh. Good. If he knew the names of his parents, maybe he knew some contact details, or a location in where he could find them.

"Do you know any contact details, or house location?"

He had prepared for this question. Yes, he knew the location. On another world on a snowy hill that Muzan had all but destroyed them in. But alas, he couldn't tell him that.

"I've been living without them and on my own for a long time now." That statement wasn't exactly false, it had been 3 years since he found his family dead, and met Urokodaki at the base of Mount Sagiri.

"And do you know what your quirk is?"

That question caused Tanjirou to hesitate. All he knew were that quirks were one special power that everyone had, and that they can control. He definitely couldn't tell them that he had "no quirk" in a society full of people with them. He wasn't even sure if those types of people existed. He had to come up with something that he could pass on as his power. Water Breathing, or maybe Dance of the Fire God? Those were two options. But that wouldn't explain how he could push the muscles in his body to reach human limits with Total Concentration Breathing…..

Or he could say that his quirk was Total Concentration Breathing, and pass off the Breath Styles as a byproduct of those. That was how Yoriichi had come up with the Breath of the Sun himself. He controlled his breathing in a certain way that accelerated the processes of certain body functions, therefore allowing him to perform specific moves. He knew what he was going to say now.

Remembering what Urokodaki had taught him all of those years ago on Mount Sagiri, he told the doctor, "If I breathe in a certain way, it accelerates my blood flow and strengthens my muscles."

The doctor raised an eyebrow at this. "What an interesting quirk. Do you have a name for it?"

Total Concentration breathing was a tad too long of a name, so he decided to shorten it out. "I'll call it Concentration Breathing."

With a final series of taps, he finished and then looked up at Tanjirou. "Thank you, Tanjirou. I have some business to attend to at the moment. In light of what has happened, there may be someone that will come in and discuss the details of your current situation, and things moving forward. I or one of the doctors will come to check on how well you are doing, and will clear you. Have a good day."

The doctor stood up and left the room. Once he heard the door close, Tanjirou laid back on the bed that he was in, and let his mind wander.

* * *

Being a doctor at a hospital meant that not everything would turn out to be normal. It wasn't like you would find the regular injuries, treat them, tell others to be safe, and bid them farewell. No, it was a lot more complicated than that. Mitsuaki Maki, one such doctor, had dealt with many eccentric situations before. Everyone had. In his profession, he wasn't supposed to judge. However, with the current case that he is dealing with, he kept wondering, was it even on his job description to deal with a child that happened to randomly appear out of nowhere?

A nine year old boy named Tanjirou Kamado, red hair and red eyes, who has no signs of any birth records, school records, even the names of his parents are a complete mystery, wasn't on any public database or identification feature. He didn't even know who to call in order to take him home.

A beginner hero known as Ryukyu had brought him here after a villain showdown that happened in the middle of the city, which destroyed some buildings and roadways, and injured many people. No one had died, but other heroes shortly after it went down had helped and rescued the ones that were involved. The hero had told him that he confronted the villain, ALONE, and even charged at him!

He knew that most kids dreamed of being heroes with the quirks that they have, that they can come in and magically save the day, but they aren't fully aware of how difficult that really was, and why the heroes are so well-regarded and respected. They didn't know about how the world truly worked.

But this boy, he didn't even know whether to call him incredibly naive and stupid, or insanely brave and knew what he was getting into. Given his background (of absolutely nothing), he would most likely guess the former. He would assume that he had very little idea of today's modern civilization, and grew up somewhere in the woods, off the radar. The clothes on him fit that description. Torn, ragged, some even have blood stains on them. There were no signs of external wounds or scars, which was a good thing.

Wait, this wasn't even his job! This was a detective's job! What was important right now was that he did his. He had checked up on the boy, and besides his arm and head, which he had healed using his quirk, which used the moisture in his body to help repair damaged body parts of other people or living organisms. It worked on animals, however, it was limited to anything besides nerve and brain damage, which was a shame, but a good quirk.

After reparations, he had to wait for the boy to fully regain consciousness, and while he did that, he ran the various tests, and found out that everything in his body was back to normal.

As of now, he was walking over to where the very same pro hero who brought the mystery boy here had just returned from depositing the villain, and all of the other legalities that came with a villain attack. She stood outside of the hospital, outside of her hero costume, and was waiting on the doctor.

"I must say, Ryukyu, the boy that you brought here is certainly the strange one. A nine year old boy by the name of Tanjirou Kamado, parents names are Tanjurou and Kei Kamado, all of which are nowhere in the citizen database, blood tests, DNA, passports, or any legal documents. Says that he has been living without his parents for a long time, and has a breathing quirk, which makes him stronger if he breathes a certain way."

Ryukyu's eyes widened at that. That really was an amazing quirk that you could have. By simply breathing, he could make himself stronger. It made sense, at the speed that she saw him run last night, it made sense that it would be a strength amplifier. He was much faster than a regular nine-year old should be. And it would even get better over time.

Powerful quirk aside, it didn't dismiss the fact that his actions could be considered vigilantism. However, the full consequence of that would only be applied to an adult. Since he was minor, and not yet over the age of 18 or eligible to enroll in a hero school, he wouldn't get put in the full punishments. He would most likely be placed under a 7-day watch by a pro hero, typically a new one.

This was mainly because the veteran pro heroes are expected to be out on the field a lot, because they had the experience to deal with the tougher situations that often arise.

Hopefully the one that she had just handled was considered one of those 'tougher situations'. After all, she had stopped someone who could make any non-living object they can touch turn into a literal bomb that had the potential to shatter buildings. That had to count for something.

Breaking out of her chain of thought, she hastily replied, "Y-yes, that is an impressive quirk, but that does not excuse his actions. Is he cleared to be released yet? A hero will need to escort the boy to the police station to discuss what is going to happen to the boy."

The doctor clicked his pen and twirled it around his fingers. "Yes. One final check-up will be run and he should be good to go. It will take about 10 minutes at the maximum."

Good. She didn't have to wait long. She watched as the doctor went back the way he came from, and once again, started to ponder about the mysterious boy named Tanjirou Kamado.

What type of life does one have to go through in order to rush at a clearly dangerous villain, and yet, it seemed like he had no hesitation whatsoever. Was it arrogance? She didn't know.

But she would find out once the detectives questioned him about the situation. Her job was to escort the boy to the police station.

She sat back on a chair, leaned back and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. It was indeed one hell of a day.

* * *

The doctor had checked over Tanjirou one last time for injuries, and had cleared him to go. He sat up and stretched his arms and legs. It had been a while since he had last moved them, and to hear the cracks as he bent them sounded very satisfying.

He had been notified that because of the whole situation with the villain attack, he was going to be escorted to the police station, where they would ask him questions, and decide the next course of actions that needed to be taken.

Which was fine for Tanjirou, because he only had one thing on his mind that really needed to be done. He needed to get stronger, as fast as he could. The world was far more advanced than he had expected it to be, so he would have to get used to all of the differences. That would take time. All he could do at this point was to go along with what they wanted. Thinking about all of the inter-dimensional aspects of what was going on was going to drive him crazy!

He was led out of his room to a place near the entrance. They stepped outside and approached a car, where a tall woman who had what looked like metal claws across the right side of her face stood next to.

Normally, he would expect features like those from a demon, but he didn't smell anything close to a demon. The woman smelled just like a regular human. Can humans look like that here? Was this normal? All of these questions were racing through his head while he took her appearance in.

A man who had a blue suit and a police badge, one that looked completely different from the police that he knew, then answered some of the questions that he had.

"Since you will need some form of transportation to the police station, she will be taking you there. She is also a Pro Hero who goes by the name of Ryukyu, so it will also count as an escort of some sorts. Don't worry, you aren't in any sort of trouble, this is just standard procedure for situations like this." He spoke in a diplomatic fashion that was sharp yet calming in a way. He was used to a lot worse, because many of the Hashiras and other Demon Slayers were a lot ruder, namely Shinazugawa the Wind Hashira, Iguro the Snake Hashira, and Genya, who passed Final Selection the same year he himself had.

Wordlessly, he nodded, and got in the vehicle. The city that his world had was very different to what he was seeing now. For example, automobiles were still in the making, with a lot smaller and slower models being owned by only the very wealthy individuals, while the regular populace tended to go around in standard carriages, though that still cost a pretty penny. Here, there were roads designated specifically for automobiles, and they went a lot faster and it seemed like everyone had them.

Ryukyu spoke up from the front of the car. "Your name is Tanjirou, right?"

"Yes. My name is Tanjirou Kamado." He kept his voice to as even as he could, but it was hard, given how high-pitched it was. This was completely different!

"You might want to put on your seat belt," she told him. "You and I both could get into a lot of trouble if you don't have one."

"Seat belt?" He had never heard of that term before. Was it that black strap that she had over her shoulder? He looked around, trying to find something like that.

"Have you really never been in a car before? How have you lived this whole time?" She said, her voice laced with surprise. Was it really uncommon here?

"I've lived away from the city for a long time, as long as I can remember. Oh, is it this thing?" He spotted a black strap with a hook along the right wall of the car over his right shoulder. He grabbed that with his small hands and pulled.

She laughed, seeing the scene play out. "Yeah. Pull that down and put it in that red thing on your other side, near the edge of the seat. It should click in place." She watched as the boy pulled the belt to the other side, and fumbled with the buckle, until he managed to press the belt down into it.

Once he had got that in, she started the car, and drove on the road for a while, turning direction occasionally. It was silent for a while, until Ryukyu broke it by asking a question that she had on her mind for a while now.

"Tanjirou? You said that you have been living on your own for a while, right?"

"Yes. Ryukyu-san." It wasn't hard to know where the question was going, and Tanjirou knew that it would come up sooner or later. He had thought up a cover story while waiting in the hospital that wasn't exactly the truth, but not too far from it, anyway.

"Where did you live all this time? If you don't mind me asking, did you have a family home, maybe a place where you stayed?" She asked him, decreasing in volume, going to a near whisper.

"No, I don't mind you asking. I've been living in a forest away from the cities for a long time. I haven't seen my parents and family for as long as I can remember. I know that they taught me how to read and write a little bit, and we were living on a mountain. But one night, they were attacked, and a hero didn't get there in time."

He didn't go on further after that. It was a heavy alteration to the actual truth, but he was counting on the fact that he was at a very young age, he wouldn't remember all of the details from that night. In a way, there was truth to it. Giyuu hadn't gotten there in time the night Muzan attacked his home. His parents had taught him and all his siblings to read and write, and life as a Demon Slayer wasn't exactly filled with large houses and comfortable futons.

It was clear to Ryukyu that the subject was something that he no longer wished to talk about. So she dropped the subject and let the silence take over once more. All they could hear was the sound of cars flashing by and wheels spinning on the concrete.

_I'm surprised Tanjirou even wanted to talk about it in the first place. Kids his age barely talk about anything other than video games and their quirks. I know I certainly wouldn't be able to handle something like that when I was 9 years old. _

That itself spoke volumes of his maturity. Maybe all that time living alone made him grow up much faster than a normal kid would. She had seen movies during her school days of people that were grown adults living in isolation, and after a while of doing so, they lost all of their humanity, and turned into borderline villains.

Neglect and abuse was a huge part of the reasons why kids and adults both turn to villainy, and she had seen what his quirk had been capable of. She was glad that the boy hadn't resorted to that.

"Well, we are almost there, it should be just ahead," Ryukyu informed him. "Just sit tight for a little longer."

The car pulled to a stop on the side of the road next to a building that he presumed to be the police office that Ryukyu spoke of. Shaped like a standard warehouse, about the same size as Tamayo and Yushiro's hidden house back in his world's Tokyo, it had blue walls running on the three sides that were visible from the front, with a blue symbol that looked like a small fire was plastered on the front above the massive door that was constantly flipping open.

He had thought it would be a lot more intimidating, towering over other buildings, and have villains going in and out on a constant stream. In reality, it seemed like a regular building, people hustling in and out with similar types of uniforms that the officer at the hospital had.

"It looks a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be." Tanjirou stated bluntly, staring at the building.

"I get why people get that. The police do sound scary, but the people inside are mostly detectives, and they're pretty nice people. Now come on, the sooner we get this done, the better." The hero tried to encourage him, thinking that he was scared, but he was not. The things that could scare him these days were far and few, seeing as he charged straight at one of the most powerful demons in existence and actually lopped his head off. What was a police interrogation going to be compared to that?

With a hand on his shoulder steering him towards the entrance, Tanjirou and Ryukyu skipped through the door, and walked straight past the front desk and towards the back of the room. The man attending at the front desk looked up, but seeing the hero, he looked back down. She turned to the left, and steered him towards two people, who were sitting on a chair and whispering harshly towards one another.

Ryukyu promptly interrupted their conversation, letting them know she was here. "Tsukauchi-san, I brought the kid. He's all yours now."

The detective now named Tsukauchi looked up from his conversation, saw the two, and nodded at the hero. "Good job, Ryukyu-san. I'll take it from here."

"Understood." She turned around and walked back the way she came.

"She'll probably be waiting outside to see what will happen after this is over. Now, your name is Tanjirou Kamado, correct?"

"Yes, Tsukauchi-san. My name is Tanjirou Kamado." He had said this an awful lot of times already, he was getting a little tired of it. But it was his first day in this world, what could he do about it? No one knew who he was!

"You probably already know this, but my name is Naomasa Tsukauchi, and I am the head detective for the Musutafu branch. I'm sure you are already aware of the reason why we are having this conversation, it has to do with the events that transpired not too long ago." Tsukauchi had got right to the point, and hearing the words that came from him, all Tanjirou could do was inwardly sigh.

_What was all of that talk about not being in trouble? What else could this be?_

"While I would like to assume that you are aware of the fact that the actions you took were noble yet highly illegal, your history suggests otherwise." The detective took out a paper that was nearly blank and waved it around.

Seeing the boy's confused expression on his face, Tsukauchi mentally berated himself.

_I'm talking to a 9 year old kid, of course he wouldn't know what this is. He's so unlike one that it seems like he's a whole lot older. He isn't normally bouncy or obnoxiously loud as one would normally be, and I only met him for less than a minute!_

"You wouldn't know what this is, but someone's history contains all of their info and personal records, such as family, home address, past schools, previous criminal actions, and all of that. The problem is that you have none of that. This isn't like it was empty, I mean that it never existed in the first place. No records under your name."

"Now, I could think of a few things that would match up to this case, but this is where you come in. If you don't know the answers to these questions, that is completely fine too, it would just help out with this whole situation that we have going on here." Tsukauchi really didn't want to have to do this to the kid, but he activated his lie-detector quirk, because he still thought that something was off here, like a gut feeling.

Tanjirou nodded, ready to answer the questions that came forth. He wasn't all too comfortable with lying so much, so, like he did with Ryukyu, he decided on telling a version of the truth that left out some other world-discrepancies that might come up.

Tsukauchi sat back up straight, put his elbows on the table, and leaned forward. "Alright. So, based off of what you told Doctor Maki back at the hospital, your parents names are Tanjurou Kamado and Kei Kamado. Yet, when we look up the name 'Kamado' in our databases, no matches show. So this begs the question; where did you and your parents live, if you all lived off of the grid?"

That was a relatively easy question to answer. "We lived in a wood cabin near a mountain that snows a lot during the winter. I remember that we traded a lot of charcoal for food during the winter, and we farmed the rest of the time it wasn't snowing."

Tsukauchi nodded to himself slightly. It did make a lot of sense if they lived on a mountain by themselves cut off by the rest of civilization, there would be no need for any records and the such. Yet, some of those were still slightly dangerous. In his line of work, being able to identify villains and civilians alike were of vital importance, and if they had no records in the first place, it would make it tough to do their job.

Yet, if they lived in the mountains, which the only ones he knew of were a long way away, and it took 4, maybe 5 hours of someone his age to go in on foot, what was he doing so far away from home? His quirk didn't catch any lies in his statements, so something must have happened to warrant that.

"Last night, you were in the city, and by the account of Ryukyu, the Pro Hero you were with a few minutes earlier, you came out of an alleyway and confronted the villain head on. If you lived so far away from the city, what were you doing there last night?"

How to answer this question truthfully? He wasn't sure he could. He couldn't just say that the progenitor of all demons attacked his family and he ran away from home on a manhunt to avenge his family and save his sister. He had to switch up some of the details.

He could change out 'demon' with 'villain', it made sense in those terms. Yoriichi had told him Nezuko was alive and back as a human, but that wasn't something he could mention here. He would give everything he had to see his sister again, but if he told the detective that he had one family member alive, things would get complicated.

"It was a few years ago, and my family was attacked by a villain. I've been on my own the entire time, and I traveled a lot, until I ended up here."

No lies there, either. He was honestly surprised. He lived so long on his own, as dangerous the outside was. He couldn't imagine what that was like.

In his head, he started to organize the information that he knew. Tanjirou Kamado, 9 years old, had lived with his family until they were attacked by a villain, with none of them making it out alive. He lived on his own with an uncertain amount of time, until he came into the city. Now, he just needed to confirm one last thing.

"When you attacked the villain yesterday, did you use your quirk?" He knew that the kid probably didn't know anything about quirk regulation laws and vigilantism, so he wasn't going to get a huge sentence regardless if he did. It would most likely be the standard 7 day probation with a Pro Hero.

However, Tanjirou's thoughts were a different scene altogether. He had told him that his quirk was Total Concentration Breathing, but he couldn't activate that yet without more training. He had used Dance of the Fire God to increase his stamina, otherwise he didn't use a quirk at all. He did mention that quirk usage was illegal earlier, so if he said that he didn't use it, then he wouldn't get into any trouble, right?

"No, I didn't use my quirk. Using it too much takes a toll on my lungs, and I was in a very bad state then, so I couldn't have activated it."

Tsukauchi's eyes widened. His quirk didn't pick up a lie, yet in Ryukyu's report, she had mentioned the speed at which he had approached the villain, she said it was on par with some Pro Heroes! Was it that he could match their bare speed?

The kid was powerful, that was for sure. He definitely would make a great hero one day. But that wasn't the issue at the moment. He knew that the boy didn't mean to do anything wrong, he had no idea about the laws in the first place! But he couldn't just do nothing. He couldn't just let him go, and let him roam around on his own again, that would be too cruel. He was just a boy.

Well, there was the vigilantism part. He was still a minor, and he did the 'act' unintentionally, so maybe the 7 day probation rule could be a good time for Tanjirou to get used to regular city life, and it can also give Tsukauchi some time to figure out what to do.

But which hero would he be with? The dragon hero was the obvious choice. She seemed to get along well enough with the kid. He would have to ask her if she was okay with that though.

He was lost in his thoughts, and didn't realize that Tanjirou was still there, waiting for the next question to be asked.

"Um, excuse me, Tsukauchi-san, but is that all of the questions?"

Tsukauchi snapped back to reality, and registered Tanjirou in front of him. "Oh, yeah, that's all of the questions. I still have to figure out what to do now. In the meantime, could you wait with Ryukyu-san outside?"

Tanjirou nodded, and went outside the way he came. Tsukauchi ran a hand through his air and let out a sigh. Today really was a strange day.

* * *

**A/N Well, that took about 20 days longer than I thought it would. I feel like I spent way too long on planning, and I uploaded that first chapter late in the night, so my brain was kinda out of it. **

**Well, this was 9K words. Tanjirou's introduction to the world, and his special circumstances were there, and I have no idea how good the pacing of all that was. Writing is way harder than you expect it to be at times. **

**It was a bit weird writing all of the legal stuff about Tanjirou and having no records, so**

**If there are any discrepancies that you see, for example something not making sense or is different from real-world scenarios, please let me know in the reviews and I'll fix that. I just tried to simplify it in an anime-fashion.**

**I'm also not too sure about the whole beta reader thing now, because I have no idea about how that works, all I know is that stories with a beta are generally better. **

**After this goes up, I'll make edits to Chapter 1. I'll start planning Chapter 3 maybe a few days after this. Make sure to check my profile to see the status on the chapters. I update that about every day. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 2

**The time has come once again to write another chapter. I did leave off on a very awkward note last time, so the transition back in might be a little strange. I might get a better idea on how this is written once I start to write, but just bear with it until now. It can work out. **

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Tanjirou was nervous while he was waiting outside of the police station, even though his exterior didn't show it. If others were to be put in his situation, it was very understandable. Most other people would be freaking out, wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, or even both.

But that was the thing. No one else had been in his position.

The idea of dimensional travel being possible was still baffling to everyone, which was why it was important for Tanjirou to keep it a secret. He didn't know why these thoughts were still racing through his head, even after repeating them multiple times, but it did a lot to help ease his growing tension. His current predicament really didn't help with that.

He had no idea what Tsukauchi had in mind when he had been told to wait outside so that he could think about what would happen to him. To him, it could be anything. You don't know all the possibilities with a place where you've never been to.

He was never one to disobey orders, though. He didn't question what he was told to do, no matter how outlandish it may seem. It was just in his nature. Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira, had made Tanjirou and his two other close friends Zenitsu and Inosuke sneak into various places by disguising them as girls. Zenitsu and Inosuke had heavily protested the plan, and even Tanjirou had a doubt in his mind that it would work. But even with that, things turned out well in the end, aside from Uzui needing to retire.

There were risks when having a job that required you to constantly fight to the death. You won't always make it unscathed.

As unpleasant as they may seem, all of his memories, all of his experiences while fighting demons, each one stronger than the last, was sure to help him when he became a hero.

There was one slight hurdle to get through though. What would stop him from becoming a hero here? He certainly has the experience. He has the ability. He just needs to train harder. What could the detective put him through that would be detrimental to his goal?

The boy who was known for his saint-level patience found it thinning. His whole new life in this world depended on a decision that was completely out of his hands! He couldn't do anything at all!

_Calm down, Tanjirou. Nothing will change by getting agitated_.

He took a deep breath, and relaxed his body and mind, expelling most of the tension inside his body. All he could do was wait.

* * *

"You want me to be in charge of the boy's probation?"

Ryukyu was, once again, standing next to Tsukauchi's desk, and trying to decide what to do with the boy along with the detective. By law, the boy had to go through probation for a certain time, as much as Tsukauchi didn't want to subject him to that.

His actions would still be considered as vigilantism in the public eye.

Next, it was deciding what hero would be watching over him. That was a rather easy decision, given that there was only one hero that he knew, and seemed to get along with. The problem then was to get said hero to agree to it. A quirk like hers could be used in all kinds of situations, and it would be a waste for that power to be used to take care of a kid for a week.

Tsukauchi took in the look on her face, and decided to elaborate. "Look, I know that your quirk is relatively powerful, and that you have much more experience than those among the rookie heroes, but the kid knows you the best. He's been disconnected from society his whole life. Most rookie heroes at this point would take a look at the kid and think of him as some sort of hard-headed bully who thinks too much of himself, and we both know he doesn't deserve that. Hell, I wouldn't even put him on probation if it wasn't for the law requiring it."

The dragon hero knew what the detective was saying was very accurate, but inside, she disagreed a little. She didn't have anything against Tanjirou, he seemed like a well-behaved and respectful kid, but she felt like she could go out and do more. With her power, she felt like she had a responsibility to go out and do as much as she could as a hero. Make a true change, like All Might had been doing for his years as a hero. People with great powers had a responsibility to help the civilians as much as they could.

"I get that, but…." The protest died in her throat. She didn't really have a sound argument to say to the detective.

"With the quirk that he has, and his desire to help others, he's going to become a great hero in the future," he continued on, "He's brave enough to charge headfirst into danger that he has no idea about, and he cares about the innocent people there. Maybe spending some time with the real deal will speed him along that path."

Ryukyu processed these words in her head. That was true. If he did want to become a hero, then being with a hero would be beneficial. But if that was what he worried about, there were much better heroes than her that could fill that criteria!

"Besides, if you're worried about your hero duties, don't worry about that. You've been working extremely hard since you graduated U.A. Use this to take a break from the action for a while. Looking after the kid'll still be important." The detective finished his case, and leaned back in his chair with a grin.

The hero still looked like she wanted to argue against it, but she couldn't. If it was really that important of a duty, then she'd try it out. It could have been a lot worse, and she was thankful that the kid would be easy to look after. Hopefully. She didn't want to tempt fate like that. A bit too late for that now, though. Oh well.

With a sigh, she replied, "Fine. I'll do it, only because you asked me to, and the kid. He'll be in safe hands with me."

Tsukauchi let out a laugh. "I'd sure hope so. Wouldn't do 'im any good if he was going to get hurt again that quick after a villain attack."

Ryukyu nervously echoed the laugh, and turned around to head towards the entrance. "Have a good day, detective."

"You too, and good luck."

* * *

The door opened once again, and Tanjirou glanced at the door to see if one of the officers were coming to him with the news about his fate for the weeks ahead of him. He saw Ryukyu, the hero that drove him here earlier in the day, stepped out of the door, and looked around. He reasonably assumed that she was looking for him, so he got off of the bench that he was sitting on and made his way over to her.

She heard the footsteps and turned her head to face him. "There you are. So, the detective decided what was going to happen to you for the next week."

Tanjirou awaited her words, and steeled himself for the decision. He nodded, ready to hear his fate.

"Because of your actions yesterday, you are to be put under a 7 day probation under the watchful eye of a certain Pro Hero. That's what I was supposed to tell you, but the detective and I both know that you didn't know the laws and meant well. He didn't want to put you here, but the law dictates that he must."

Tanjirou thought over the words. It wasn't too bad, not at all. He would be staying with a hero for a week. Much worse things have happened to him, so staying over at someone else's place was a welcome change. He could probably go back to the woods, and train there until he was as strong as he was when he first became a Demon Slayer.

"That's fine. I'm okay with that. It's certainly better than staying out in the woods."

They were both silent for a moment when Tanjirou remembered what he was initially going to ask. "Which hero am I going to be staying with?"

Ryukyu looked spaced out for a moment, but when she noticed Tanjirou staring up at her.

"Oh, sorry about that. Well, since I'm the only hero that you actually know, I was assigned to watch over you as probation duty for the week. That means you'll be crashing over at my place for the week."

_Crashing over….?_

What exactly was he crashing?

With a confused expression on his face, he asked the adult, "What does 'crashing over' mean?"

Ryukyu looked puzzled by the question, but then realized. He hasn't lived in society. Of course he wouldn't know these types of words. She'd have to stop doing that. But, he was only 9. He didn't know that many big words either!

This was getting a lot harder than she thought it was going to be….

"'Crashing over' is what people usually mean by staying over at someone else's place. You can call it sleepover if you want too."

Understanding dawned on his face. He was staying with Ryukyu at her home. He didn't have any arguments against it. She seemed like a good person, and she wasn't overly aggressive like some other grizzled people and a certain boar-headed boy.

"Oh. So if I'm staying with you for the week, what do we do? If I'm not supposed to be fighting any villains, then does the detective have something that he wants me to do?"

Ryukyu walked over to her car, and opened the door. "Those are questions for when we get home. You look dead on your feet, and I know that I can use a rest. Get in, it's not far from here. It'll take 10 minutes at the most."

As soon as she had said those words, he realized how tired he had felt. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep at the hospital, if that could really count as sleep. He wasn't sure being knocked unconscious counted as that.

He couldn't even remember the last decent sleep he had gotten. It had to have been before Muzan attacked the Master. Nevertheless, he really needed a rest. His sleep schedule wasn't going to wait because of his need to become a hero.

He got back in the car, and once again found the belt, and dragged it across his chest to where the red buckle was, and locked it in place once again. Ryukyu put a set of metal keys into a slot, turned it to the right, the rumble of the engine started once again, and the wheels were rotating at high speeds.

The glass on the side of the car rolled down until the wind was blowing harsly through the open window up to Tanjirou's face. Admittedly, it was harsh on his eyes, as he was forced to shut them a little, but it felt strangely pleasant on the rest of his face. The day was warmer than he was used to, so he hadn't even noticed the stuffiness of the car and the sun constantly blaring on his face. It was most likely due to his exhaustion dulling his senses.

The car stopped in front of a standard-looking abode, larger than his own, much larger,, but it was peaceful. From the outside, it looked completely ordinary compared to the houses around it.

No one would suspect that a hero would live here, unless someone came and followed her around everywhere. Though at the moment, she wasn't in her hero clothes, so it wouldn't really matter.

Ryukyu got out of the car, and looked to Tanjirou in the back. "It may not look like much from the outside, but it's really comfortable inside. You can rest up there."

The man-now-turned-to-kid stepped out of the car, and into the house, taking off his shoes beforehand to not be too disrespectful.

"Pardon me." Tanjirou said as he stepped into the house and looked around. The sights that he was greeted with were…. strange, for a lack of a better word, to look at. The interior of the house was different, like the rest of this world, to something that a person would traditionally find back home in the Taisho period.

The walls were painted with bright colors that worked well with its surroundings, being decorated with a pale yellow color. He could see from the entrance that some of the rooms had open doors, and he could see different colors and pieces of furniture in them.

Bringing his attention to his immediate surroundings, he noticed that at the entrance, there was a wide, open area leading up to an equally large living area, consisting of multiple sofas, a circular table with wood sides and base with a glass top, a couple of glass holders, and a large, black screen hanging on the wall above the sofa.

The screen was the thing that bugged him. It didn't look at all out of place, yet he couldn't seem to find the point in it. He would need to ask her about it later, because that must have been something native to this world.

Ryukyu walked in front of him and to the left, where there was a gap in the wall that led to a set of stairs.

"Well, since we're both tired and haven't gotten any decent sleep in the past 24 hours, I think we can both agree to just rest for now. There is a guest room that's usually never used. I do apologize if it's a bit messy, I just never have any visitors coming before." She explained, with a hint of tiredness and resignation in her voice.

"It's okay. I would be grateful for a spare futon to sleep in, Ryukyu-san," he replied. "Thank you for letting me sleep in one of your rooms". It wouldn't do for him to be offered a room and not be thankful about it. That was something that his father and Urokodaki had told him was of vital importance.

"Ah… it's nothing. I've lived alone for a while now, and I'm probably not gonna have any other uses for those rooms. This place is a bit too big for just one person to live in after all."

She continued up the stairs, with Tanjirou following shortly after. The stairs were long and winded, and the top of the stairs led to another hallway, with multiple doors on the sides, two on both the left and right.

"The first room on the left has a spare bed that hasn't been used. There might be some dust on it for the past weeks that no one has entered, so make sure you shake it off the blankets before you sleep." Ryukyu pointed out the room, then walked down the hallway to another room.

"Meanwhile, I," she continued, "am going to need to crash on my bed, and pass out."

She leaned on the door, which opened without a creak, and threw the door shut as soon as she entered the room. Tanjirou stares at the door for a while because of such an unusual action. Deciding that things would go back to normal in the morning, he entered the room.

Once again, the sight was more than he had expected. When he lived with his parents before he became a demon slayer, he would often share his futons with his younger siblings, and sleep in a room that had nothing except a desk. For him, it was his style. Simple, quiet, and comfortable. Living the kind of life that he did, it made you long for even the simple things in life. A warm meal every day, a comfortable futon, and a roof over his head. He had been travelling around, so the days where he could have them were few and far in between.

It didn't help that in his first break as a demon slayer, Inosuke kept throwing pillows at Zenitsu's face, and both Zenitsu and Inosuke kept running around in circles and chasing one another along with Nezuko. He still remembered that day. He had never seen Zenitsu so furious.

Walking into the room, it didn't bother him that the room was somewhat smaller than he was used to. A white mattress was propped up from a wooden base, with pillows and blankets draped on them. A large wooden desk sat across the far corner of the room, with a mirror and drawer across it. The walls around it were painted in a dark blue color, and the ceiling was painted as a starry sky, with a drawing of a full silver room, with a clear bulb in the middle.

Tanjirou walked across the room to the open blinds, grabbed the small thread, and pulled down, closing it. The light that was entering the room had been blocked, and he was once again shrouded in darkness.

_This is very convenient. You can just flip it open again if you want light. It definitely is a lot easier than using lighting candles. _

He then walked back to the bed, and pulled the covers open. Heeding Ryukyu's warning about the dust, he dragged it off of the bed and flapped it once.

Not a great idea.

The leftover dust sprayed all over the air, covering the room in a blanket of white cloud that forced Tanjirou's eyes shut the moment he swung the blanket up.

_Why did that even happen?_

His enhanced sense of smell definitely did not help, as it was picking up scents of various things that he had never even smelled before. Nevertheless, a bed was a bed, and Tanjirou was glad to finally sleep in one.

Placing the blankets back on the empty mattress, he lifted his feet on the ground and laid down on the bed. Whatever he was expecting it to feel like, it was certainly not this.

He found his weight suddenly shifting downwards, and the mattress going along with it, though not without a distinct spring sound coming from the floorboard underneath. He felt his body freeze up in fear, and it felt like he would sink right through to the floor, until he realized he wasn't moving anymore, and felt the chill evaporate.

After getting over the initial worry, he took his time to relax under the blankets, and to feel the coolness underneath him. It felt soft, softer than he had ever felt anything before, rivaling his own checkered haori. He leaned back into the pillow and closed his eyes, instantly feeling drowsy. He had no time to marvel any further until he fell fast asleep.

* * *

From villain attacks early in the morning to now housing one of the strangest kids she'd ever met, the rookie dragon hero certainly wasn't feeling the day. Coming off of a sleep-deprived night, she spent the time sleeping on a certain question; how the heck was she supposed to look after a little kid for a whole week?

First of all, what was she even supposed to do? The detective told her to "take a break" for this week, yet how was she supposed to? Normally, her version of a break was to get out of the house, turn into her dragon form, fly out to a remote beach, and relax at a small wood house that she had built herself. She was fairly sure that it was illegal, but nobody knew it was there. It was a win in her book.

She could hardly leave the kid at home and go and relax there, as tempting as it sounded. That would just be immoral of her and messed up in so many ways.

What did Tsukauchi mean by "relax" anyway? She almost wished she could go out and back to doing hero work again!

But she knew that the kid didn't ask for this either. He never wanted to be caught, knocked around by a villain, sent to the hospital and the police station right after. He would probably be happy with life back the way he was used to. She knew that she would, being put in his situation.

It was so clear now why this was so heavily regarded as a difficult hero duty, and why "the bane of all caretakers" was such a widely discussed issue.

She, in all honesty, didn't have a clue what to do. Her regular day was just going out, patrolling, resolving minor cases and the occasional villain attack, and going back home and chilling. Without heroics, she literally had no plan for the day.

What was the best way to go at it? Take the kid out to the city and have fun there? For any other kid, that would be a good idea, but for Tanjirou, he had never been out there.

Maybe she could take him out on a tour to the city?

That option was on the table, but that depended on what Tsukauchi had planned for him after that. Was he just going to let him return to his regular life in the woods? Was he going to send him to an orphanage? So many questions, yet no answers.

Wait…

She was being dumb.

Why not ask the kid what he wants to do?

As long as it wasn't against the law, they technically could do whatever they wanted. It would save her the potential hassle of boring the kid to death, and he'd be happy.

Why didn't she think of this sooner?

Maybe it was because she was sleep deprived as all hell? That wasn't even a maybe. She hasn't gotten sleep in the past day and half.

_Listen to your own advice, Ryuko! Leave the issues to the morning!_

She stopped thinking, closed her eyes, and instantly lost consciousness.

* * *

The small bedroom was filled with a dull light that was seeping through closed blinds, along with a bed that hosted a young boy covered in sheets, slowly opening his eyes. The small light was a welcome change from the first few times that he has regained consciousness, where the sun was shining directly on his face.

He tossed the unfamiliar sheets aside, and climbed out of the bed. Recalling the events of yesterday, and feeling more energized than he had in a long while, Tanjirou moved towards the blinds and pulled the yarn up. He could see the sun closing in on the horizon, covering part of the sky in a light shade of orange.

Based off of the sky, he had estimated that he slept for 6 to 7 hours, a very healthy sleep in his mind. Traveling around, he was used to getting by on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep, with the training that Urokodaki ran him through. But, he speculated that based off of his age change, everything he had learned from him was near useless now.

He opened the door out of his room, and took a glimpse into the master bedroom. The sheets were half removed, and there was no one laying in the bed. Making another assumption that the hero was currently awake, he made his way down the spiraling wooden staircase to a light sound coming from the living room, and a very familiar smell coming from the kitchen.

Peeking his head into the room, he noticed that the sound was originating from a wide, black box that was slightly glowing from the front, which was connected to the very same wide, metal screen that was hanging on the wall when he first came in.

Seeing that Ryukyu was busy in the kitchen, and likely did not notice him come down the stairs, Tanjirou spoke a short "Good evening", and the hero turned around and found the young boy standing in front of the kitchen.

"Ah, good evening. I warmed up some instant ramen in case you're hungry. If you aren't, then that's fine too, you can eat it whenever you feel like it."

Right on cue, his stomach rumbled lowly, and he lifted his head and, with a slightly embarrassed face and a sheepish smile, he replied, "I think I will take you up on that offer."

She let out a low laugh. "It's okay, I get it. You probably haven't eaten in a while." Noticing that the kitchen counter was a little too tall for him, she gently lifted the bowl and handed it down. Tanjirou took it gingerly in his stubby hands, and went to the table to eat.

Tanjirou quickly ate the food that was given to him, and while it certainly wasn't the quality of some food stalls that he had passed during his travels, it wasn't dirt poor either. Food should never be complained about, because a Demon Slayer rarely got the time to eat food in peace. He was all too used to eating food that was a bit raw and rushed.

After a few minutes of silence, with Ryukyu watching the screen, his curiosity got the better of him. What was that screen? It looked like it was showing some sort of play, but how was she viewing it? It was all so mind-boggling to him!

"Ryukyu-san? I have a question, if you don't mind?"

She turned from the screen, and lifting a small remote at the same time, she pressed something, and all of a sudden, the sound coming from the other black box abruptly cut off.

"Hm? It's okay, what's up?"

Tanjirou was silent once again, and stared at the box, and then the remote. After a few seconds, he regained his voice, and asked the question.

"What is that big screen that is showing plays?"

With a confused expression on her face, she stared at him. "What do you mean?", she answered, with a quizzical voice.

Elaborating, he continued, "How do you make those things appear on that screen, and how is a sound coming from that box? Is there something inside of it? Is there something trapped in that? Is a quirk doing that…?" His finger pointed at the screen and box.

Following the finger to look at the TV once again, she understood what he was asking. "You mean the TV? Did your family not have one of those? They are fairly common…"

"No!" He realized that he had shouted that last bit, and he quickly regained his composure. "I'm sorry. Our house was just a simple Japanese-styled house that had torches. We didn't have those balls of light on the ceiling, and it was fairly empty."

_How did he survive without any sort of technology? How cut off was he that he doesn't even know what a lightbulb is?_

"How do I explain this…." She trailed off, thinking of ways to describe technology. "Normally, kids learn this in school, but you've probably never been there. I don't fully understand it myself, biology was more my thing than physics, but from what I know is that there are different forms of energy, and there was some rule that energy had to be conserved, so they changed it to a form of electrical energy, but people just call it electricity."

"Then, I don't know how this works exactly, but my guess is that they used this electricity to send signals by using certain metals called conductors. They carry electricity. They made computers, which I'll show you later, I have one of my own. Using this and by using the radio waves in the air, which I don't know how they do it, but it sends a signal to this TV, and out comes the different shows that you want to watch."

She pressed a button, and all of a sudden, a black screen appeared on the now named "TV", and it showed a massive list of channels, which kept scrolling up, seemingly endless.

"If you change the waves a bit, the channel will change. You can select what you want to watch by clicking this, then it'll change automatically. That's a little of the science behind it, but others who specialize in it can tell you more. I personally couldn't care about it, as long as the shows are here, I'm fine."

Tanjirou, who's eyes were now mostly glazed over because of the information, was internally screaming.

_Where did you send me, Yoriichi-san? And why does everything just get so much more complicated?_

Now that he knew that whatever was happening with the TV wasn't some form of magic or other-worldly nonsense...

_Well, technically it is…_

Tanjirou finished his remaining ramen, and he set the bowl down. Now well-rested and filled up, it was finally time to…

Hold on, what was he supposed to do? Ryukyu hadn't given him a schedule or something to do after he got up! She just told him that "these types of problems are left to the morning"!

Bringing the conversation back to a realm where he could comfortably talk about, he brought up another question.

"Ryukyu-san? Earlier today you said that making our schedule would be something we had to do after we are rested?"

She grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. "Tsukauchi never gave me a specific list of things that we need to do, so really it's all up to you. I'm just supposed to be watching over you as a responsible adult."

"Oka… Wait, I need to decide? I don't even know my way around here!" Tanjirou exclaimed his protest after he had the burden of the schedule passed on to him.

"There's your idea, then. Why not take a look around the city? The weather's perfect right now. During the summer, nighttime is always the best time to go out."

He thought about it for a bit. If he wanted to be a hero eventually, and if he was going to be living in this world for the rest of his life, it probably was a good idea to know your way around.

"It would be a good idea for me to get to know the city. If I'm going to become a hero, then I need to know what's going on around me."

At that statement, the dragon hero's eyebrow shot up. That was the first time she had heard of a goal from him. He wants to be a hero? He certainly had the quirk for it. That was probably what led him to attack that villain last night. No wonder. Why didn't she expect it?

"If that's the plan, then I will get dressed in something that isn't my hero clothes."

She then turned around and eyed Tanjirou's clothes. He was still wearing the tattered clothes that he had from before, and from the hospital. All in all, it wasn't that great of a sight.

"And also Tanjirou, you might want to change your clothes. It's not gonna do, looking like that." She passed off her assessment of the remains of his Demon Slayer Uniform to the young boy, until another thought crossed her mind.

Did she even get any other clothes?

All she had that fit him were some clothes that the hospital had provided, given that he had nothing else to wear, which was a plain white shirt and black shorts, probably from some program which helped kids in need. This brought another priority on the top of her list.

Clothes shopping.

Truth be told, she was never one to be interested in fashion, and that statement would be heavily frowned upon by many other female pro heroes, but it was the truth, what was the point of getting all these fancy outfits when all it does is draw attention to you, and makes you feel super uncomfortable?

Nevertheless, she had another thing to do.

* * *

Fitted not in his Demon Slayer uniform, but a standard white shirt and black shorts, Tanjirou was walking around the city next to a somewhat-disguised hero in public. Ryukyu, sporting a regular shirt over a white jacket, hood pulled up, and black pants, minus her usual dragon appendages over her right eye, was walking past civilians, not a single one of them recognizing her as a hero. The sight of an adult woman with a young boy did not draw any attention whatsoever, as they just dismissed it as a regular mother and child travelling the city.

Which was a good thing for both of them. It wasn't in their interests to make everyone stare at them and notice them.

She took the young boy down the busy street, a different one compared the one where the villain attack was last night, to a store that was labeled with a bright flashing light.

"Because of all the destroyed buildings, construction workers that are paid by the government are repairing them. With their quirks made for the job, it should take a few weeks to get it the way back it was, but for now, we need to avoid it," She had explained to him when he asked about it.

They had entered the small store, where, like everywhere else, there were people of varying sizes and appearances hustling around, grabbing clothes off of racks, placing clothes against them and trying on sizes, and a massive line of people, holding items, ready to purchase them.

The interior of the store was colorful, with bright lights and signs that blinded Tanjirou when he first walked in the store.

_I thought Tokyo was bad! And she said this was a "small" store!_

A voice broke him out of his trail of thought. "Since you only have one pair of clothes, it wouldn't do for you to wear that day in and day out, so we need to get you other things to wear. I don't really care what you get, so long as you like it. Now come on." He swiveled his head and realized that Ryukyu was talking to him until he was yanked out of the way.

She grabbed his arm, and steered him over to a certain section of the store, towards the back left, where there were smaller, more colorful outfits that were standing out vibrantly compared to the rest of the store, where other kids his size were being forced by their parents to try on their clothes, some completely uninterested, and lazing around sleeping on various places.

"First, we need to look for a proper size, then choose something based on that…." She trailed off as she picked a random shirt and placed it in front of Tanjirou, bending down and comparing it to his chest size, ignoring his puzzled look.

"This size looks good. You can choose whatever you want, just make sure it's medium size," She instructed him lightly.

It was so fast, that he had no idea what happened. Now all of a sudden, he had to choose his own clothes, which he had never done. Back when he was living in the mountains, his mother usually knit clothes, different haoris for each of the siblings, and they used to all go out and buy different kimonos that matched them for special events. The kimono that he wore had lasted him all the way up until 2 years prior, until he became a Demon Slayer.

Which was the reason why he was hesitant now. He really didn't care what he got.

"How do I know which one to choose?" He spoke up after his few minutes of silence.

Hearing Tanjirou say the exact words that used to pass through her head when she went shopping made her chucke. "The bane of shopping, is it? Well, do you really care about what you wear?"

"I'm fine with anything as long as it's comfortable," the boy replied, still looking at the rack of garments.

"Just like me. Well then, let's find something that isn't too obnoxious, shall we?"

She spent the next 5 minutes picking various different clothes, ranging from some casual shirts and pants, to even a jacket and a somewhat formal shirt and jeans. Tanjirou, who has never seen something like this before, and who's idea of formality is a simple yukata, was once again left confused.

His confusion was met with a short response from the hero that quite frankly did nothing to clear it.

"There will come a day where you will need this. And when that day comes, you'll thank me. Trust me on this. That was me once upon a time."

Each world would have it's different customs. Sometimes it won't always be the same as you're used to.

After picking out a steady pile of new clothes for Tanjirou to wear, they stood in the line, waiting for quite a while, which Tanjirou, once again living up to his saint-like patience level, waited in without complaint, while Ryukyu took out her "phone" as she called it earlier, and started to scan the hero news outlets. Tanjirou, with nothing else to do, looked around, and most people were doing the same thing, staring at a phone.

Now knowing that technology was a thing, and that the people here could do so many more things that the people of his time couldn't even dream of doing, it was hard for him to be surprised anymore. After all, he had been hit with the biggest impossibility.

Even after a full day's worth in a new world, he still couldn't believe what he was in.

After a half hour, they were finally out of the store, a decently sized bag in hand, and a wallet that weighed considerably less than it did before, the two continued to walk around the city, with Ryukyu showing Tanjirou the local places in the city, which included parks, some local schools, and even a beach, which in his opinion would have been quite beautiful if there hasn't been a steady pile of trash starting to build up along the shoreline.

The parks were a standard place, with a weird structure sitting in an open field, and many kids running around, jumping, hanging, and yelling, all in one over it, finding many creative things to do.

One could mistake that for training very easily. Hell, it was probably a decent method of training. It could prove useful to him, in replacement to those death traps that he constantly had to avoid.

At every new place that they went to, Ryukyu would give a basic explanation of what they were, which Tanjirou greatly appreciated.

"Parks are basically a social gathering place. People often meet here to go around in the city, or just relax after a long day. It's a nice quiet place during the day, and it also serves as a good place for kids like you to play. That's what that is over there, it's called a playground with all kinds of obstacles and other things, though personally I never found the excitement in them." Her take on it he could definitely see, and it was ideal for someone like him.

School, which (finally) was a concept that Tanjirou was somewhat familiar with, though he didn't go to school himself, only the extremely wealthy did, was available to the public, and to each and every kid. The addition sat pretty well with him, his mother pounding the importance of an education into all five of her children at a very young age. The one they were in front of had a sign that labeled it "Masegaki Primary School".

"Public schools like this one, though they generally aren't that great in quality, allow every kid to learn there, free of cost. It's where kids spend most of their early lives. The school is divided into grade levels, and as you get older, you go to a higher grade, and the things they teach get harder."

She then started going on about the general school system, which, to her surprise, Tanjirou was listening to with rapt attention. She never was that great of a speaker, and often made people fall asleep.

"Primary school, which is this one, starts from 1st grade and goes through 6th grade. 1st grade starts at 7 years old, so you would be in 3rd grade. This is the age where everything is really easy, and your grades don't matter at all, unless you want to go to a private school, which costs a lot of money, and an application, where they accept only the students who have specific grades."

She paused for a bit, walking down and around a block where there was another large structure, which labeled "Musutafa Private Middle School".

"This is the one where I went to before I went to high school. Here is where it starts getting harder, and you have to study really hard here, because whatever you get here, might affect what you want to be. Hero schools aren't very accepting, especially if you want to get into a good one. Even though it's a lot harder than a public one, it prepares you well."

She laughed a little, and as a little side comment to Tanjirou, she added, "In reality, the public middle schools aren't good at all. I've heard stories from people who went there. They regretted it."

Tanjirou wasn't all that sure it was something to be laughing about. If it was as bad as they described it, then the people in charge, or what was called the government, should really be helping these kids.

Turning off of the main sidewalk and onto a mountain trail, she continued to show Tanjirou around. "This last place here has been famous for many reasons around the world. It's just over that hill there," She explained to him while pointing over a small hill in the distance.

"What's over there? I don't see anything except a grassy hill," he questioned, now positively intrigued.

"You'll see. There aren't that many people that don't know about it, yet it's something that not many have ever seen in person."

A short walk later, and Tanjirou saw the beginnings of a giant blue construct, in the shape of an H, overlooking the greater part of the roadway, and taking up most of the view. In front of many gates, a large U sign in front of an A was plastered above it.

"Welcome to U.A high school, the best hero school in the country. It produces the best heroes, and it's where I graduated from a year back. For the people that make it into U.A, it's an amazing opportunity to achieve their dreams and become the best they can be."

The U.A graduate narrated in a proud voice to an astonished young boy. He gazed over the large institution, with fields reaching down as far as he could see, ranging from various different things with no doubt special purposes.

His surroundings, which were all no doubt owned by the school, seemed to be a city all of its own. It's walls encompass various different buildings and architecture, some demolished while others stood perfectly clear, with no civilian activity whatsoever.

"Isn't this….. a bit much?" Tanjirou asked the hero. "Nobody's even here. What would a school even use this for? It all seems like such a waste."

Ryukyu looked over the training grounds, reminiscing in the memories of all the hours she and her classmates spent, honing their quirks and practicing simulations in city-like areas.

"Hero schools aren't all about education, even though that's heavily stressed," she explained. "To make the students into the best heroes they can, they need to know how to act in certain situations, be it flat ground, city areas, and how to catch various villains in them. They also learn to improve their quirks beyond their limits.'Plus Ultra' they say. To me, it's just pain. And more pain."

Hearing the explanation, it made sense to Tanjirou. But another question replaced the one that had just been answered; what was with all of the destroyed buildings?

Reiterating the question, Ryukyu's reaction was definitely an interesting one, similar to Zenitsu when he was asked about his past. His eyes would often dart around, and he would scratch the back of his head.

"Ahhhh…. about that… let's not worry too much about that. The heroes there are still training after all," She stammered slightly.

That certainly was the case for her. During her first year, when she couldn't control her quirk all that well, she lost count of the number of buildings she would destroy. The property damage amounted to something that could sustain a small village for their whole lives.

She didn't want to think about the poor economic disruptions she had caused.

Though not being convinced, Tanjirou could tell this was something that she didn't want to talk about. Even without her answer, he could tell what the problem was.

_She had a lot to do with that, did she?_

Dismissing the thought, the two continued down the road, with the hero pointing out different parts of the school and its purposes, with Tanjirou eagerly soaking it all in. The more he saw, the more it made him want to be in it to experience it.

Granted, the way Ryukyu described the training, it sounded like child's play compared to the miniature hell he had done to himself on Mt. Sagiri, but if this training would help save the people of this world, then he was all for it.

This was the best school, according to many people. He couldn't ask for anything more.

Taking a phone from her jacket and checking the time, she put a hand on Tanjirou's shoulder once again, making him turn his head and look at her, the light of the phone screen shining part of her face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's getting a little late, and even though we just slept, we should be heading back." She answered in a hushed voice.

"Why? There's no one nearby."

She sighed. How nice it would be to be young again, without any worries. Not that it applied to Tanjirou, seeing that his maturity level was higher than most adults these days.

"Villains usually operate at nighttime, and because I'm not supposed to be on hero duty during your probation, I can't really be out here."

Tanjirou mentally berated himself. That should have been obvious to him! He was used to fighting all of his battles at night! Of course, the villains would fight at night, why would they do otherwise?

Seeing the boy understand her point, she turned back and walked at a brisk pace, pulling her hood back up, towards the entrance, and down the mountain again, with Tanjirou in her shadow.

They once again scrolled through the crowd on the busy road at nighttime, heading through the closest way back to Ryukyu's house. Through the sound of the people, and the engines of the cars, neither of them noticed that someone camouflaged in a shadow widened their eyes when they passed him.

The man's eyes flew up, and then immediately, his face scrunched up in what can be described as a mixture of excitement, and overflowing animosity. He emitted an aura of pure rage, and he made a mad dash to a nearby shadow, and disappeared into it.

Like most things in a society with quirks, nothing ever went how you would expect it to go.

* * *

Back under the air conditioning of the cozy loft, Tanjirou and Ryukyu were both relaxing on the cushions of the sofa, which Tanjirou never had the luxury of feeling before.

The feeling was simply nothing less than extraordinary. Just like the bed in the guest room, he could practically feel his back sinking in, though he knew he wouldn't fall through. His mind went blank as all his senses took in the sweet state of blissfulness.

The rookie hero, being a little tired from all the time they had spent outside, still thought that showing Tanjirou the city was worth it. He seemed to enjoy it a lot more than someone should have, but Ryukyu couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in herself.

_Even though I have no idea what I'm doing or how to act around kids, I guess this isn't so bad._

As she had previously mentioned to Tsukauchi, she certainly wasn't the best there was when it came to these kinds of things, because she knew what her personality was like, and it wouldn't be fit to act like that in front of a kid. She was an extremely laid-back and dare she say it, a really lazy person.

Babysitters, parents, and literally any other form of job that required looking after someone required diligence and patience. She knew that. Everyone else knew that. And she was the exact opposite of that.

That was one of the main reasons why she initially didn't want to get picked out for the probation. She would have a terrible influence on a kid that seemed to be great in every possible way. Quirk, behavior, and every other thing, Tanjirou was someone that didn't seem to give anyone a hard time at all, unlike most kids.

When he expressed his desire to be a hero, she started to worry more. Why her? She knew that she couldn't set him up on the path of being a hero well. That was one of the main purposes of the probation, though she knew she would fail at that task.

From an outside perspective, it may seem simple. Just change. Be a good role model. Be someone that he could look up to.

But was that really possible?

All she did was fly around and slam her palm on the ground, and she took care of every situation. Something which required no effort whatsoever, yet yields results. But getting there was a completely different story. She had faced so many things in her past. Bullying, to training, to accepting who she was and what she could do, and finally, the hard work.

This wasn't an issue of underestimating her capabilities. It was an issue of influence. Tanjioru would look to her for the definition of a hero, because she was the only one that he knew. And all he would see is someone flaunting around their power and lazing around and getting all the credit for it.

Even if she knew she did more than that, it was all that it looked like. And what it looked like was all it takes to lead young children down the wrong path. As a hero and as a person.

That was what prompted her to make a plan of action. What would she do? How would she handle this? The typical answer would just be "be yourself", which was plain bullshit in her opinion. For someone that came from outside on a blank slate, that would be disastrous.

So she decided to go with the path of "keep the kid safe" and "go with the flow" for the first day. She answered his questions. She gave him advice when she could. She showed him around the city. That was all well and good, but what would she do after?

Go with the flow again? Did she really have an option? If the kid seems to be enjoying himself, then that was all good with her for now. All of the morbid thoughts that would cross her mind weren't good for her health.

So she cleared her mind, and pulled back out the responsible adult Ryukyu.

"For now, I think it would be a good idea to go back to sleep. It wouldn't do for our sleep schedule to be disrupted so early on, it just makes bad habits." She tried to model her tone of voice to somewhat calm yet authoritarian, but failed miserably. She really wasn't made out for these kinds of things.

Though to her surprise, Tanjirou seemed to be nodding his head! "Okay. Do I go back to the room earlier?"

Earlier? Oh right, the guest room.

"Sure, you can use that. I don't have any other uses for it, so make yourself at home there."

The boy smiled and replied, "Yes!"

She smiled to herself as he ran up the stairs. He really was too good to be a regular kid.

* * *

Climbing back up the stairs, Tanjirou was deep into thought, and reflecting across what he learned from the earlier tour around the city.

The city was a hotspot for the majority of daily human lives, and they contained everything that was needed, like restaurants, stores, banks, which were buildings that held money, schools, which was free for everyone, and even some for specific things, like massages and public baths. All and all, it seemed like a really good place to live.

A little more complex than he liked, but this was the result of quirks over the years. He really couldn't complain.

The people had seemed to be non-agressive, and, despite their large numbers, he felt comfortable with everything around there. The atmosphere in the air from what he could smell was incredible. Even at the age that he was currently in, his sense of smelling how people are feeling had only gotten better.

Calm, to happiness, to excitement. Not a shred of worry in their hearts, even though they knew there were villains still out there.

Given an overview of the world by Yoriichi, he figured that people would be scared and on-edge. In the villages that he had visited as a Demon Slayer, even the slightest bit of conflict brought everyone on edge. No one would dare step outside. Everyone was on guard. He knew this was basic human nature. When you felt threatened, you felt the need to protect yourself.

Though what he felt coming from the people on the streets defied that very idea. What kept them from worrying? What kept them all safe? Did Yoriichi mention this when he described heroes and villains?

Thinking back to that mystical, he remembered his long speech. Different worlds. Quirks. Heroes. The Symbol of Peace. Protect.

_He is known as the Symbol of Peace, All Might. He is thought to be invincible, and unbeatable. That he will always be there to protect them._

He didn't know where those words had come from, suddenly springing into his mind like that, but it made sense when he thought about it. The people felt safe because of All Might's power.

Was it just him? Was it just him that was set on edge, knowing the threats that the world faced?

No. Of course he wasn't the only one. If he was, then the world would have fallen to ruin already.

The heroes knew. They knew because they were out there every day, fighting against the evil of the world. They knew the pressure that was on them, to preserve the society that they live in. That's why there were schools for heroes, for people who have the heart and the drive to protect others.

On the subject of heroes, his mind wandered to his temporary caretaker. She certainly was not a bad person, in his point of view. Before the day had started, he had made the assumption, but after today only reaffirmed his view. She really did try to help at every turn that he had. He knew she cared, but she wasn't confident enough.

Like a certain blonde haired boy he had found on the side of the road.

Because he wasn't confident in his abilities, he let himself be held back. He let himself believe he was weak, and therefore became so. Only when he didn't let his thoughts cloud his judgement, he became strong. Stronger than Inosuke, who had prided himself on strength. Stronger than even him. He had seen Shoichi talk about how he moved so fast, that he sliced a demon's head off in a blink of an eye.

He had seen on the Train, that he was fighting with all of his might, even under the impact of the sleeping spell. He knew that Zenitsu was strong, and just yesterday to him, he had heard the carrier crow shout into the wind.

"_Zenitsu Agatsuma has killed Upper Moon 6!"_

He killed an upper moon on his own. A feat that not even the Hashiras have been able to accomplish. If he had let his mind flow freely as he did that day, he could be someone great.

He had the feeling that Ryukyu was somewhat similar. She had that scent of doubt on her, that she felt like she wasn't able to do something. He would have to ask her about that some other time. Maybe he could help her fix that doubt.

Taking a deep breath, he entered his room, fully prepared to sleep, until his senses were screaming at his body to run away. Why? Was something there?

His body followed through, tensing up, and being put on guard. His hand reached for a sword that wasn't there, clutching on air. He took another breath, tasting the air.

_Behind!_

At the last second, Tanjirou ducked out of the way, hearing the whistle of the wind as it flew just by his head, and all he could glimpse was a long, wicked knife, with the intent to kill.

* * *

**A/N I know I said that this chapter would go up on Saturday, but today, I was feeling like "why the hell not" and typed up for a few hours. Can't say I regret it.**

**Now onto the story. Meetings, city tours, and general reflections on his new life. Honestly, I put this on my profile on my inputs on the progress of the chapter, but I felt like I wrote at a super fast pace, and I covered too many plot points. So if it sounds rushed to you, I apologize.**

**But the end, that wasn't just a cliffhanger, that was leaving a bare pinky on the side of the goddamn mountain! Details and context on what just happened will be explained in the next chapter.**

**And finally, on the next chapter. That will depend on what's happening. Now onto some real world issues.**

**None of you guys know this, but where I live, it's actually a Coronavirus hotspot right now. There is a massive danger of people being infected, and at this point, colleges, workplaces, and all massive events are cancelled. **

**But what's pissing me off is that THEY AREN'T CANCELLING SCHOOL!**

**Literally the Public Safety and Health Committee (whatever its called, I have no idea) states that no gatherings are allowed of over 1,000 people.**

**Our school has 3,000, bordering 4,000 people, and our campus is TINY, so why the hell ain't they cancelling school? "That's a great question," said my Physics teacher. The man is a genius by the way. How is gathering a whole bunch of kids helping the situation at all?**

**Enough of my ranting, as usual, I will update the second chapter and start the plan of the fourth chapter after a few days, and I will try to write as much as possible. Check my profile for updates, I do that every day.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Edit: THEY CLOSED IT FOR A MONTH LETS GOOOOOOOO!**


	4. Chapter 3

**The grind is back on once again.**

**Thanks to everyone who commented for the positive feedback last chapter. I read all of the reviews, positive or negative, and it certainly helps me continue to write.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**I don't know how to do the line thing on FanFic yet I need to figure that out.**

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

He couldn't ever remember a time where he was so broken. Not like this. It felt like the world had already ended. Nothing mattered anymore. He lost everything he cared about, his house, job, possessions, but most importantly, his family. His wife and kids.

All because of some insane psychopath that was too lazy to earn his own money.

Before the incident. Yuuto Fugiwara was a hardworking individual, with a stable job, and a happy family. They resided on the outskirts of Musutafu, which never seemed to have any problems.

His quirk, Shadow, was especially versatile. It allowed him to travel through shadows that he could see. If he saw two shadows, one next to him, and one far away from him, he could simply walk into a shadow and reappear on the other side. It was a convenient quirk, yet he never let the praise get to him. He knew such a quirk could be used in a hero setting, yet he never had the desire to go forth with it.

Every day was calm and fun, until one day, when Yuuto had gone to work, he came back with his house on fire and in ruins. He rushed in, ignoring the smoke that was making his lungs heavy and ragged, and found his family members with stab wounds in various different places. He tried. He tried with all his might and with everything he had to get them to wake up, to open their eyes, anything. But it wasn't any use.

He was a shell of a man the day after. Everyone who looked at him could tell. Gone were the once bright eyes that went day and night, front and back, to the job that he loved. He sat at the front of his ruined home, not eating, sleeping, anything. People who knew who he once was were genuinely worried.

Later on, a few days later, a coworker of his, who he was friends with, tried to help get out of his current state by showing him a piece of news about the crime that had happened to his family. The man thought that by Yuuto hearing the news that the man was put to justice, it would help him slowly recover from this incident.

Little did the man know, that wasn't how the mind worked.

When he saw the segment of the news that talked about the murder on the outskirts of Musutafu, he read the news with wide eyes as he saw all of the details of what had happened. The murderer was a 29 year old man with a quirk that had to do with knives protruding out from his body, and he was later arrested and taken into custody from the new pro hero Ryukyu.

Ryukyu? He has never heard of that name before.

But didn't they say that she was a "new hero"?

Why didn't they send someone out that knew what they were doing?

If she was supposed to be a "hero", then why didn't she come and save his family sooner?

Wasn't that what heroes were supposed to do? Protect the people against villains?

Where were they when people really needed them? The people and everyone else just disregard the deaths of people, and parade around the heroes, even when they failed to do what they were supposed to do!

The sorrow slowly turned into a boiling rage within him. If it wasn't for incompetent heroes like her, then maybe he wouldn't have lost everything!

Maybe then families could live in peace!

But instead, they just care about their own fame, their own successes. Why else would they be parading around the victories of heroes? It wasn't a victory! It was a complete and utter failure!

Just because they were born with some lucky ass power, they get to do whatever they want! Disregard the lives of the people they claim to be helping just because they weren't born with powers that allowed them to kill!

What made them any better than the people they claim to stop?

She was the one responsible. She was the one responsible for the deaths of his family.

And he would make her suffer for it. Just like she made him.

No matter what.

After learning all of this, he changed. He abandoned his job, and all of his remaining possessions. He changed his attire and appearance, and he made use of the quirk that he had. He turned to the life of villainy.

His quirk was too notch for infiltration. Looking through a window, he could easily access buildings, and get whatever he wanted. All he needed to do was to steal as much as possible, and his ultimate goal was to find the dragon hero.

He first stole money. Money was always essential for whatever task you want to do, that much was obvious to everyone.

A month after the incident, he took a knife from the remains of his home and approached a bank. Through the window, he could make out various different shadows in which he could access. All he needed was to execute the method which let him go in and out undetected.

Through the side of the building, he could see a shadow from a door and a light to the right of it that led to the back safe, where all of the cash was bound to end up in. Carefully, he leapt into the shadow of the building, and reappeared on the other side.

While trying to execute the narrow maneuver, he realized something. The lighter the shadow, the harder it was to make his full body appear out of the other side. This was important information about his quirk that he needed to file in later. The suffocation he had felt was almost too much. But such was his goal. He couldn't expect everything to go smoothly.

He had managed to get hold of over half of the cash that was in the bag, and no one, not the police or the heroes, had been able to detect him yet.

Maybe he should have done this more often. But that wasn't what was important here. What really mattered was seeing that his mission was done.

Financially, he was set for a very long time. His next step was to look for information. Various things that meant a lot to her, other than her own life, of course. He needed to make her as miserable as he possibly could before killing her.

He then proceeded to steal as much as he could from tech companies in the dead of night, where the shadows were simply amazing, he could get anywhere.

Looking through all of the information that he could on the hero, all he could find was….. general appearance and past incidents resolved by her?! What was this? Not even her name?

This was slowly going worse and worse….

But no matter.

He would find what he needed to do, and get his revenge.

Even if he thought that he had nothing useful, he still examined every piece of evidence, every article that existed with her name on it. Something had to have been there. Old records. Anything to find out who she was.

Half a year passes by, and he feels like he's made substantial progress. He examined every and all articles, and found out more about her than anyone else. Many people by now would have just given up, but he wasn't one of them. He was determined to see her fall, if it was the last thing he would do.

All of the sites where there was some sort of case that she had to resolve were in areas where there weren't a lot of people.

Makes sense, her quirk would be very dangerous to use in places with a lot of people. Not like it mattered, she was a murderer either way.

If he wanted to finally catch her and find more, then he had to find a location in which she would do her heroic acts, he could follow her and find out more.

Except that was way too difficult.

She would leave the scene too fast, because of her quirk. She could fly as fast as a plane could, by herself through the air. It was just very unlikely.

But not impossible.

His quirk had the potential to travel equally as fast. He just needed to get faster. Stronger. Better with his quirk. Then he can do what he sought to do.

Then that night, in the middle of the city, at the place where he least expects it, she appears.

The explosions. The deaths. Truth to be told, what could have anyone done about it? No heroes were around. He saw it himself. He thought himself to be a criminal mastermind. He could do anything without being caught.

Yet the execution was phenomenal.

Many people died that night. That would have been a normal day, yet she came.

In the middle of the city, the one place where he didn't look, she came. The damn hero came.

Why?

Why does everything have to not go his way?

Why was fate always not on the side of Yuuto Fujiwara?

Lamenting on his constant failures, the day after the incident, he was walking down the alleyway, trying to investigate the scene, when he saw it.

The face that he had investigated for so long.

For 6 months.

It was right in front of him.

She was walking down the road, in her daily life, and…..

Was that….

A kid?

What was a kid doing with her? Did she have any family…..?

No, it made sense. No one knew what her real name was anyway. She didn't work in an agency yet, she was a solo hero.

It would make sense for her to keep a family member away from all of the heroic business.

Especially a kid as young as that one.

He found it. He found it all, the hero he hates beyond all others, and a lot more. Someone she cared about.

Just like he cared about his family.

And he promised 6 months ago…

He would make her suffer. By taking everything she loves away from her…

And then herself along with it.

And now was the perfect time. Starting with that kid.

_I will not let this get away! After everything I have done! Fate is finally on my side!_

He leapt into the shadow of a building, and he moved. His quirk has developed so much in time. He could pass through any and all shadows, no matter how light.

And it was nighttime with street lamps. Shadows were everywhere.

Including hers, and her kid.

He leapt into the young boy's shadow, and followed him back to their house without a single trace of his existence being noticed by either of them.

He found the address of the house they were staying at, and memorized it. If things went awry, then he would need to know where they were.

The boy and the hero both were relaxing on the sofa, with the boy's shadow being underneath his weight, though Yuuto was forced to bear with it for a while. After a while, he went upstairs to a room.

Perfect.

Now was the chance. He would take what she cared about away from her once and for all.

The boy was isolated. His shadow was dark, exposed, and it made for an easier ambush.

Taking out his stored knife, he dug his feet in the void, and launched himself at the fastest possible speed, and stabbed directly in between the boy's eyes.

* * *

Tanjirou felt the whistle of the wind pass directly over his head. His sense of smell detected something was off about the situation, and he jumped out of the way at the last moment.

Then he saw the knife.

Though small, it wasn't unlike anything Tanjirou has seen. Demons usually had claws or fought with their fists using their enhanced strength. The goal was the same either way.

Avoid it at all costs.

Even if he had a younger body, he still had to survive this.

He had survived everything else that had come his way, because he had a purpose.

Protect Nezuko, kill Muzan, and let humanity live in peace. Now, it was to become a hero, save as many people as he could, and use his power for good.

He could take him on.

_**Total Concentration Breathing!**_

He leaned back, and saw the body stumble behind him being carried forward by the excess momentum. He shifted his footing, shoulder width apart and fists in front of him, ready to read his every movement.

He didn't have the strength to effectively use his normal fighting style, and he was without a weapon. That required agility that he didn't have right now, and his power was far too low to be taken seriously by any opponent .

He recalled a time where he needed some sort of power in a certain part of his body, and Zenitsu had told him the trick. It had caused his legs to accelerate at speeds he normally couldn't execute all the time.

"_I just use my Total Concentration Breathing and push all of my power into my legs."_

Though the after-effects were rough, it had worked. If he could empower his legs that way, why not his arms?

The man in front of him turned to look at him, with a crazed expression. Dark, red eyes combined with long, black hair. Teeth gritted so hard that they might be shaking. His quirk was something along the lines of teleportation, but he didn't know what. And he was in front of him, and was radiating killing intent

_Why does this situation feel so familiar?_

With an angry growl, the intruder made a mad dash and swung his knife around in a clumsy but deadly arc towards Tanjirou's neck. He saw his arm go outward before he even went towards him.

Tanjirou ducked under the arm, using his small stature to his advantage while flooding all of his energy to his fist and thrusting it into his stomach.

It hurt, more than he expected. The first time he had used that, his legs broke. But he was used to that pain. He had been used to fighting large battles on broken bones, far too many than was healthy.

Sacrificing a little backlash seemed to do the trick. The man flew back and tumbled across the hallway, rolling on the floor face-down.

The impact of the man on the floor was sure to alert Ryukyu downstairs, so he wouldn't have to fight alone for much longer. Hopefully the hero knew how to fight without turning into a dragon, because that would be needed here.

Coughing, the intruder got on one knee, and both he and Tanjirou noticed the barreling sound that came up the stairs.

Ryukyu, with feet and hands turned into dragon paws and legs, bounded up the stairs.

"Tanjirou! What's going on…?"

That was when she noticed the dark figure that wasn't supposed to be there.

Eyes narrowing, she focused on the figure. Claws slid out, and approached him.

The man on the floor raised his head, and saw her. The one that he had been hunting for over half a year.

Right in front of him.

A maniacal grin stretched across his face, and he started to laugh.

"Ahaaahahahhh…. I've finally found you…." His voice was strained, and he was still struggling for breath from Tanjirou's concentrated punch.

Ryukyu approached the man, and knocked him back down witha swipe of her hand. She took out some binds used to detain villains, until he made a mad dash towards a shadow.

However, this time, Tanjirou could tell where he was going to end up. He wasn't trying to run. His eyes were focused straight onto him.

Taking a deep breath, and with Total Concentration active, Tanjirou looked around him for any signs of movement. With only one light trained on him and with obstacles around, shadows were being created everywhere.

Yet that was something that Tanjirou didn't know yet.

Out of a shadow to his left, he could see a figure coming at him. Tanjirou moved away in the opposite direction, until something caught the nape of his shirt.

_How….?_

The figure that was in front of him started to recede, as the man reappeared behind him, holding a knife to his throat. His grip was tight, insanely so. The blade was pressed into his throat, a small drop of blood trickling down his neck.

"You… took everything away from me. Everything I've ever lived for." A low murmur, yet the two present could hear it as clear as day.

The wide-eyed dragon hero watched, a few meters away, preparing a mad dash towards Tanjirou.

"Let go of him, bastard…," The dragon hero growled, succumbing to her quirk's nature.

Yuuto Fujiwara gladly basked in her look of absolute rage, and his grin grew even wider.

"Now it's time to lose yours!"

Tanjirou could tell that he was about to die if he didn't do something, and yet, he wasn't scared. Death's door was nothing new to him. All he had to do was what he did every time in odds that weren't in his favor.

Overcome it.

Closing his eyes, he drew on all of the breaths that he knew.

_**Total Concentration! Dance of the Fire God…**_

The knife came up in front of him, and he could feel the man pressing him against his short body to keep him from running.

Not like it mattered in the end.

_**Parhelion Rainbow!**_

The attack was designed to evade attacks with twists and turns, and needed the agility to create an after-image, but Tanjirou knew he couldn't execute that yet. Instead, he twisted in his grip, muscles stretched to their limit with his breathing.

He felt the slight falter, and he took advantage of that. The knife came down right when he twisted and ducked down, causing the man to nearly stab himself.

Once again, he had no weapon, so fighting him head-on wasn't an option. Ryukyu was dashing towards the intruder at high speeds, ready to intercept the knife as it came down on Tanjirou. Even if he hadn't had broken free, she still would have gotten the knife out of the way in time.

In the split second in which it occurred, Ryukyu saw what Tanjirou had done, and changed her target from the knife to the villain itself. Her dragon claws outstretched, she grabbed the front of his face, and _slammed _it down hard, causing the wood floor underneath to crack under the impact.

The man went still for a few seconds, and Ryukyu kept a firm hold on his head, making sure that he wouldn't be able to escape.

She didn't notice what he was doing in time.

His body started to sink in the floor, and disappeared while escaping the hold the hero put him in, leaving her paw stuck inside the cracked floor.

He reappeared on the wall next to Tanjirou, who saw it coming due to his enhanced senses. Once again he dodged, but now fully aware of any feints that he might do. Still looking around him for a sign of the intruder, he didn't realize what was below him.

Though he expected he could pop out from anywhere, he couldn't predict what happened next.

Popping out from below, one arm reached out, threatening to grab him from underneath. Tanjirou jumped at an angle towards the right to avoid coming back down into his grasp, but he didn't notice the man never moved from the spot next to the wall, colliding right into him.

_Wha-_

The man, which his hand plunged into the wall, and appearing on the floor re-grabbed Tanjirou, and shoved him into the wall.

This whole exchange happened in 3 seconds.

Ryukyu was able to get her hand free in that time by bringing it back to human form, and turning back to a dragon. Hearing the commotion, she turned around.

To see Tanjirou and the intruder gone.

_Shit!_

She turned her limbs back into dragon form and bounded inside the house in pursuit.

Meanwhile, all Tanjirou could feel was emptiness. He couldn't breathe. His eyes were vacuumed shut. He had no idea where he was going. All he could feel was the grip of the man's hand on him as he was dragged along with him.

The sensation lasted for about 30 seconds, and his lungs were about to lose its strength until he was suddenly hurled out of the void, his small body hitting the cold floor underneath him.

Even if his body had none of the physical training, his mind still remembered all the times Urokodaki had knocked him to the ground, and made him get up as fast as he could, taught him to recover from all kinds of absurd positions.

It was this training, and all of those memories, he wouldn't call it muscle memory, but it was in a weird way, that allowed him to flip back around and face the villain once more.

He toon in his surroundings, and he was in an area that was a lot more open, and enclosed with a little bit of light seeping in from all sides.

It could be considered an arena all on its own.

All that was in front of him was the villain.

And this is what he needed to take down.

Unarmed, with only his fists and Total Concentration, he approached the figure that was rapidly gaining distance on him.

His senses were still reaching out in all directions, prepared for the moment that he would teleport behind him, but strangely, he didn't. He kept charging straight in, knife in hand.

The movement was slow, even to him. Though he was used to using swords, it was easy to tell that the man had never had experience with the knife.

He only saw it as a tool, as a mere material that allowed him to kill.

He didn't see it as an extension of himself, as something that was attuned with him, that he could understand from the inside out.

Once again, ducking under the swing, Tanjirou thrusted his fist forward into the stomach of the villain, in the exact same maneuver that he used in the house.

Though he was inexperienced, the villain wasn't stupid enough to get hit by a move that has already been used against him once before.

He twisted his body and let his fist fly past him. The knife that was previously ducked under came back again towards the small of his back, the point ready to pierce his heart.

Tanjirou bent his body forward, and let his momentum carry him the rest of the way. Rolling forward, he created some space between the two and bought himself time to reset his position from the awkward landing earlier.

He used this time to gather his scattered thoughts together, and rethink everything that just happened within the past two minutes. Someone broke into Ryukyu's home, and tried to kill him. He seemed to have something against Ryukyu, because he talked about 'taking away what she cared about, just like she did hers'.

She was a hero! Her job was the exact opposite, to save people! Why did he want to take away someone who does good for the people in this world?

Why attack him to begin with?

"Why did you try to attack me and Ryukyu? What are you trying to accomplish?"

The man, who had also stopped to buy some time, perked at the question. A reaction alone was a good thing, that meant he wasn't completely insane.

"Do you really want to know, boy? Ryukyu let my entire family die, everyone I cared about! And now, I'm gonna take away everything she cares about too! STARTING WITH YOU!" He spoke calmly and then escalated to a shout at the end, and as he spoke the last line, he took out yet _another _knife, and started to run at him.

_So that's why. He's not after Ryukyu at all, well he is, but she's not the one he's trying to kill._

He was the target. He was the one the villain was trying to kill.

If only he could disarm him somehow, and level the playing field with a weapon, he could utilize more of his breath styles.

He couldn't do that with hand to hand combat. The only one that he could use without a weapon was…..

_**Dance of the Fire God…**_

Blinding forward, and picking up speed, his deep and rhythmic breaths pumping energy into his already stressed muscles, he went forward to knock the weapons out of his hands.

_**Waltz Flash!**_

With a large gulp of oxygen, he pushed with his legs, accelerating the pumping of his blood, and speed to levels that he normally wouldn't get, yet making sure that the pressure he put on them wasn't enough to shatter his bones.

Unaware of his technique, the man had his knife only half-raised until something slammed into his arm, forcing him to drop the weapon and leaving it to clatter on the floor.

Tanjirou exhaled, halting his legs temporarily, and he tried to assess the current situation of his body. He put slight weight on his legs to test if they would hold up.

He didn't feel pain.

His legs were slightly warm, but that was to be expected given what he just did, and there was slight disorientation, however, Tanjirou has fought on much worse before.

Then, the situation got better.

Since the clattering of the arm jerked his knife arm back, it caused him to lose the knife. Since the brunt of the force was sent in the direction of Tanjirou's current position…

A knife, it's owner absent, was laying at his feet, ready to be used.

Finally armed with something that would be effective with his breath styles, although it wasn't a Nichirin blade, it was something.

He picked the knife off of the floor, and held it in front of him with the standard two-handed grip.

Normally, this would be a glaring issue, given that the knife was about a third of the length of a regular blade, however that wouldn't matter.

In the same case as Natagumo Mountain, where he first used the Dance of the Fire God in battle, it could be effective, no matter the blade used. His blade was completely cleaved off, yet it could ward off attacks even from one of the Twelve Kizuki.

He watched as the man, once again, thoughtlessly charged him. He couldn't understand why he kept repeating the same charge over and over, and made the same swings multiple times, but that didn't mean he would misuse the chance that he got.

Now fully expecting the wild, overhead swing that the man would do, he waited until the knife was directly in front of him, then took the knife into one hand, and slashed up, blocking it.

_**Scorching Crimson Mirror!**_

His opponent's knife jerked back a tiny bit, but he wasn't fazed by the block, he made it thrust down at the boy's heart, still intent on killing him, that he didn't realize that he left his chest wide open.

Years of ingrained battle experience led Tanjirou to see the thread linked from the top of his blade, directly at the man's heart. The Opening Thread.

His knife was compelled with great speed towards the end, and he executed his 7th form of the dance.

_**Sunflower Lance!**_

The knife dug into his chest, cutting through flesh and bone. He could head the audible crunch of the knife digging into his skin, and the ear-splitting scream of the man in front of him.

He staggered back, dropping his weapon, with the knife still lodged in his chest. He was still screaming, taking short breaths, though every time he seemed to breath in, he would let out another scream. During that time, Tanjirou grabbed the second knife off of the floor, making sure that he wouldn't be able to pick it up again.

He then ran over to the side of the villain, and jumped in the air, using the same move that he did to finish off Akaza.

_**The Setting Sun.**_

Flipping backwards, he thrusted the pommel of the second knife into the man's skull with all of the strength he could muster.

He fell to the ground, knocked completely out, knife protruding from his body.

Tanjirou let out the breath, and his hands dropped down to his knees, trying to recover from the sudden exhaustion from the fight.

Even if the fight lasted about a few minutes, it still took a lot out of him. He knew the reason why.

Before he met Urokodaki, he was very unathletic. He didn't have much stamina, though that improved slightly once he was old enough to carry charcoal up and down the mountain he lived on, though that wasn't at his current age.

Tough and strenuous fighting suddenly without training would be disastrous for an untrained body.

Walking over to the unconscious body, he went to make sure that he was knocked out, until he took a closer look at the body.

It didn't hit him until a few seconds after he looked at the body that he had done.

_I fought a villain, again! And I stabbed someone that wasn't a demon!_

He was so used to fighting demons for the past three years, that he completely forgot that his opponent couldn't regenerate instantly. He forgot that every shot that he took could potentially be lethal. He forgot his opponent was just like him.

He may have just killed a man, and not even realize it.

Because he attacked so suddenly, like a demon, he reverted to his old mentality of when he was a Demon Slayer. Go for any part of the body, try to damage your opponent as much as possible.

They will heal it anyway.

This wasn't the case. What he did right now, it could lead to punishments he couldn't imagine.

In his time, some people might have called for him to commit seppuku, given that the murder of a man would be considered as a capital offense, though since he attacked him first, he doubted that would have happened.

One thing was for sure; he potentially destroyed his hero career. Murder would now be on his record, even if there was nothing he could do about it.

He used his 'quirk', when he was specifically told that was illegal.

In the middle of lamenting his mishaps, he heard something shatter behind him. Tensing up, he turned around, and raised his fists as he prepared for another fight. However, the sight that greeted him was a welcome one, and one that he needed right now.

A dragon-like creature broke through a section of the glass rooftop that he was currently in, the shards falling nowhere near him. She dove down towards his position, landed cleanly on the floor, and started to shrink down to human size.

"Ryukyu-san, I t-" he started off, until she did something that he didn't expect in the slightest.

She ran over to Tanjirou and immediately enveloped him in a tight embrace. Shock was written all across his body for a few moments, until he tried to squirm out of her grip and tell her something.

"Ryukyu-san, I think I might have killed the villain," he confessed with a somewhat shaky voice, not unlike one of a young boy.

He felt her stiffen slightly, unwrap her arms around him, and walk over to the villain on the floor, with the knife in his chest.

* * *

The dragon hero observed the knife placement, though her calm facade showed that she wasn't worried. Internally, it had no effect on her state of mind.

Completely agitated.

For the past 10 minutes, she had been relentlessly searching for a boy who's life was in danger and had no ways of defending himself. And now here he was, safe, however he said he might have killed someone to protect himself. She couldn't help but feel relieved.

If something had happened, it would have been her fault. Her fault and no one else's. If she couldn't save a kid from being taken from a villain in her very home….

She wouldn't be a hero.

After assuring his safety, there was the matter of the villain in front of her. A knife in his chest, from a 9 year old boy.

She knew it would have been painful having experienced a stab wound once upon a time, yet she couldn't help but think.

He had a teleportation quirk. How the hell do you let a kid stab you?

_Dangerous thoughts, Ryuko. The kid almost died. Be happy about that._

The knife was lodged somewhere below the chest area, which was a good sign, because he didn't puncture his heart, so he was probably still alive.

She had no idea if it had hit anything else, though. She wasn't a doctor. What could she do?

For now, the important thing was to secure the villain, and make sure Tanjirou wasn't hurt.

Taking out some restraints that were given to every hero in case of an attack like this, where no officers were nearby, she tied up the villain as tightly as she could.

After making sure that he wouldn't be able to use his quirk to get out of there, she turned to Tanjirou, and grabbed his shoulders, and tried to examine him.

Other than lots of dirt on his clothes and face, he had no visible injuries. There was a little blood on his shirt, which made her worry, as she lifted his shirt slightly to see the skin there wasn't ripped at all.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain at all?" She questioned with a lot of urgency in her voice. "Did he strike you anywhere?" Dumb question, yes, but who could blame her?

Shaking his head, he replied, "No, I think I managed to avoid everything, though my legs hurt a little because I used my breathing technique."

His response put her off a little. Didn't he seem too calm from this? Any normal kid would be panicking, or be at least a little shaken by this! But here he was, acting as if everything that just happened was part of his daily life!

Does living in the woods for that long tend to do this to people? To make them face death itself and not be worried?

Just what has he gone through?

She had to address some more concerning matters, this villain and Tanjirou's health.

"Even if you think you're fine, we still need to get you checked by a doctor, as soon as possible. I will go to the police station to sort some matters there." She pulled off her stern adult voice quite terribly, but the message got across. The boy nodded.

"That's fine," he replied.

She turned into a dragon, and once again flew a villain and a now-conscious Tanjirou to the hospital.

_Didn't the same thing happen yesterday? I carried a villain and Tanjirou to see the police station and hospital…._

She didn't even know what to say to that. Not did she want to.

Strange day indeed.

* * *

It had taken little more than 10 minutes for Ryukyu and Tanjirou to reach the hospital. She dropped him off over there, and explained the situation to the lady at the front desk, who was well aware of who they both were, having met them yesterday.

Tanjirou, being once again checked in the same room by the same doctor that had met with the 12 hours prior, had him lay down on the bed to check his condition.

"Well, young Tanjirou, it is a surprise to see you here once again, not even 24 hours after we last saw you." Was that amusement or some other emotion? He couldn't tell.

"Sorry, Doctor-san. A villain made his way into Ryukyu's home and tried to ambush me with a strange quirk that he had. He seemed to be targeting her through me," he explained briefly, summarizing what had happened the best he could.

"If that is really how it all happened, I cannot fault you for getting hurt and coming here this time. You were, after all, defending yourself." The doctor sighed. Strange kids brought up strange days, didn't it?

"Though I can't advise you to be more careful, given that you couldn't have predicted this situation, what I would say is if something like this happens again, it is imperative that you visit the hospital after calling a hero to take care of the situation."

The doctor finished his instructional speech, and then proceeded to tell him the analysis of his current state of health.

"Other than that, the only problems my quirk could detect were minor strains and tears on your biceps and gastrocnemius, but those were healed quite easily. As of now, you are free to go," he finished off his analysis.

Lifting himself off of the hospital bed once more, he tested the weight on both of his legs to validate the doctor's words. Sure enough, he felt no pain.

He bowed his head to the doctor slightly. "Thank you very much, Doctor-san!" Respect should be given when respect was due, after all. He was grateful for even the opportunity to be instantly healed.

For all the problems this new world would bring, it certainly has a lot of benefits that he was grateful for.

"No need to thank me, young man, I am just doing my job." Came with being a doctor. All he did was activate his quirk. That didn't take that much effort, he just has to drink a lot afterwards, an unfortunate yet healthy side effect.

Tanjirou exited the hospital once again, and contrary to the first time he exited, the full moon was now shining down upon him, slightly illuminating his surroundings, along with some help from the street lamps. Not too many people were currently out, a few people walking out and about, most likely trying to get back to their homes as fast as they could.

The weather wasn't exactly warm, even though it was summer.

He supposed that all he could do was wait, given that his current guardian was at the police station, probably dealing with her hero business there.

A thought struck his head at that moment.

_I totally forgot! Will I get in trouble for using Total Concentration Breathing on someone! Does self-defense even count as an excuse here?_

He started to panic, but his training prior coming to this world took hold. He evened out his breath and started to think.

Could he really be blamed for what had happened? He had no idea that some villain would break into his home, and attacked _him _of all people. Only a few people would have known that he existed. The doctor, Detective Tsukauchi, and Ryukyu. That was it.

Furthermore, if he didn't use his supposed 'quirk', he would have died. An adult with a weapon against a 9 year old kid. That was too unreasonable.

This was a world with superpowers. They couldn't be that unreasonable as to condemn him for trying to save his own life!

He found a nearby bench, sat down, and continued his lamenting.

He would be okay. There was no reason for him to not be. But there was one thing that he was not at the moment.

He wasn't strong. All of his strength that he had gained in the last three years had seemingly vanished.

He could barely hold Total Concentration for more than 10 minutes, let alone Constant. How was he supposed to use his power when it all disappeared?

His mind drifted back to when he first was about to arrive in this world, and his conversation with Yoriichi. His age was responsible for his power loss, so why did he set him back to a point with no power?

What was the reason for it? Did he want him to do something to regain it?

What were his plans for him? Did he know the events that were already going to happen, and send him to change events there?

Could he even see the things going on, or was he watching from above, waiting for the people down here to make changes?

Everything about this was so confusing! He has no idea what that was, what Yoriichi could currently do, and why he was chosen to be sent here out of all the people who had the Demon Slayer Mark…..

Hold on…

There have been other people with records of that mark, right? They all died within the age of 25 while getting it, so that meant that there was a possibility of other people also being transported to other worlds, like this one….

_To put it simply, there are other worlds out there…_

Didn't Yoriichi say 'worlds'?

Besides this world of quirks and the one of Demons, were there others? Were there other marked people who were sent to other words just like he had?

Or maybe they weren't set to other worlds at all. Maybe they were sent to this one….

He heard a weird sound of something rolling up directly in front of him that scrambled his thoughts. He looked up and saw the very same car that belonged to Ryukyu, along with the hero in the driver's seat with her hands on the wheel.

He stood up from his seat on the bench, and walked over to the now opening window.

"Why are you out in the open like that? Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital still?" She seemed worried and angry at the same time.

He shook his head in denial. "They released me after they checked that nothing was wrong. They only found a little strain in my legs, and they fixed that."

That didn't do much for her mood. "Still, you just got attacked by a villain as soon as you left my sight, and now you're out in the open. It's like you're asking for that to happen again!"

Oh. That made a lot more sense when he thought about it. Someone with the appearance of a kid, alone in the middle of the road would look quite vulnerable.

The sight was quite common in his time, was it not here?

If this world was so advanced, then there probably weren't people who were constantly orphaned. Especially if no demons existed to kill off families.

Like his.

"I'm sorry, Ryukyu-san! I'll be careful next time! It won't happen again!" He apologized as formally as he could, bowing slightly.

The hero sighed. "Nothing happened this time, so it's fine. Just get in the car. Tsukauchi needs you to tell him what happened. And he told me to tell you that you aren't in trouble."

She saw Tanjirou open his mouth to interject as he climbed into the back seat of the car, and she quickly added, "Yes, I know he said that last time and this probation is technically a punishment, but you acted in self-defense and there was nothing you could have done to avoid it."

With that, Tanjirou's initial worry dissapeared. They said that they would not punish him for using his concentration breathing to protect himself, just like he had hoped. Now it was time to move forward from there.

Traveling the same route, they once again stopped at the police station where they met up with Tsukauchi waiting for Tanjirou.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I think you already know why you are here. This is concerning the villain attack that happened just an hour ago. I am aware of the fact that you may know as much as I do about the motives of the villain, but…"

"Actually, in the middle of our fight, I asked him about why he attacked, and he told me the reason," he corrected Tsukauchi before he could finish the statement.

Whatever it was that he was expecting, this certainly wasn't it. Nevertheless, it would make the investigation run much smoother.

"Really? You managed to get him to tell you the reason?" Tsukauchi asked with a surprised tone. Was that not normal? He assumed the job of a hero was to find out why things happened and put a stop to things.

Tanjirou nodded once more. "He said that Ryukyu did something to him in the past, or wasn't able to save people he cared about. He said that she 'let them die', and he was going to do the same to her as revenge. So he targeted me."

Tsukauchi was writing down this information on a sheet of paper he had in front of him. All he wanted were details of how the altercation went down, but this was even better than he expected.

He certainly wasn't complaining about this.

"That bit of information will greatly help our investigation of this incident. Now, onto the thing I was actually going to ask you about, the wounds on the villain. How did that happen?" He questioned Tanjirou after finishing writing it all down.

Tanjirou couldn't even decipher the way he asked the question. Was it interest, or something else?

"I used my quirk in that fight to enhance my speed, and I targeted his arm to disarm him. After that, he left too many openings," he explained the situation in a way that he could understand.

Was it wise to talk about the breath styles or Dance of the Fire God at all? Would he even understand or believe him?

"I could tell that he didn't have too much experience holding his knife, because all of his swings were wide, and I could easily block them," he continued on. He was about to add more when he was stopped by Tsukauchi again.

"Hold on, what do you mean by 'block'? Do you mean with your hands, or something else that you had? Because I'm not too sure that even with a quirk, that can't be blocked with a limb." An expression of confusion was present on his face.

"I dodged until after I disarmed him. He pulled out a second knife afterwards," he elaborated.

Tsukauchi made another quick note of something, scratching his pen rapidly across another sheet of paper.

"And after you disarmed him and got the knife, what did you do?" It was at this moment that Tanjirou knew he would have to tell the detective what he did. But Ryukyu had told him that he wouldn't get into trouble because of the self-defense laws for minors.

He should be good, right?

Taking a deep breath, he continued on. "After that, he charged at me, and he swung too wildly. I saw the chance and I took it, and stabbed him in the chest. He recoiled back and didn't try hitting me after that. He would have used his quirk to escape, but I knocked him out with the hilt of the knife before he could."

There it was. The full and unaltered truth. What would Tsukauchi say about it?

He couldn't tell. His silence was like a mask on his current emotion, and he couldn't break through it. He continued to write details down, and Tanjirou wasn't all that skilled at reading the page backwards.

"Alright, from what I can tell here, even with the added details, you clearly didn't do anything wrong. He attacked you first, and you were just defending yourself. As for the stabbing, that was a spur-of-the-moment action, and anyone who reads this could hardly blame you for what happened," he finally said, stating his verdict.

Tanjirou heaved a sigh of relief. He wouldn't get any additional punishments, and his future as a hero wasn't in jeopardy.

_It would have been bad if I came here to do good, and ruin it immediately on the first day!_

Seeing the relieved look on his face made Tsukauchi smile. "Well, I think the best thing now is to stay with Ryukyu for the time being. Continuing the probation would do good for this whole' punishment' thing, and because being with her is the safest option for now."

Tanjirou nodded. He was fine with that. More than ever now, he needed to focus on getting stronger, and getting used to this world. Being with Ryukyu was probably for the best.

"Thank you for everything, Tsukauchi-san," he responded, bowing his head. "I greatly appreciate everything you have done for me since I came here."

The detective seemed taken aback by the actions shown by Tanjirou. He was just doing his job! Why was the boy thanking him?

"There's no need to thank me, Tanjirou-kun. Helping people who need it is part of my job after all." A soft smile formed on his face. Even if he found it unnecessary, he was glad the boy appreciated what he did.

"Very well, then. I believe that Ryukyu-san would be waiting for me outside. I best not keep her waiting." He then got up from his chair, bowed once again to Tsukauchi, and left the police station.

A few thoughts were in the front of Tsukauchi's mind, and they all revolved around the strange boy in front of him.

He felt like Tanjirou was too accepting, too honest. Someone who genuinely wanted to help people, but knew he couldn't. Ryukyu has told him earlier that one of his desires was to become a hero, and that was why she asked him to look at his actions as self defense.

Not like he wasn't going to anyway, but it gave light to what he really was like.

Being a detective, Tsukauchi could read people pretty well. If he couldn't, one wouldn't get far in that occupation.

Tanjirou was someone who was always respectful, always willing to help others. He had power, yet didn't let that consume him. He kept striving to be stronger, not for himself, but for others.

He looked at the retreating figure once more. That boy would become someone important, no doubt about it. It's not unlike a certain blond Symbol of Peace…..

* * *

The ride back to the hero's home was strangely silent. Neither one of them made a sound, still deep in thought of what happened to both of them.

Tanjirou, calmly listening to the sound of the wheels rolling on the paved roadway, was once again finding himself with nothing to do. It was still an unusual feeling to him, given that his life was constantly surrounded by action and training, with no room to relax.

Not to say it wasn't welcome. It certainly was.

He took a deep breath, breathing in and out, trying to relax his breathing state, which was shifting to Total Concentration Constant at times, which would give him some chest pain.

Though when he did breath in, he picked up various different scents from Ryukyu. Some were normal, and were the same as he was currently feeling right now. However, there were others that he couldn't explain quite well. Or why she was feeling them in the first place.

One was tension. Overwhelming tension. That was understandable. It was natural to be on guard if someone was able to break into your own home without you noticing. Tanjirou certainly would, and he was feeling the same way.

The other was a small amount of anger. Once again, that tied into the tension aspect of it.

The last one was something that Tanjirou didn't understand, though it was one that was constantly on someone else that he knew. Something that used to revolve around him so thick it was sometimes suffocating.

Self-loathing.

She was blaming herself for something, and was degrading herself because of it. He couldn't tell the reason why, but it was weighing heavily on her. Affecting her, even though she was trying her best not to show it, probably for his sake.

He needed to tell her that it was all right. It was fine to let out whatever you were feeling. It'll make it better in the long run.

But he couldn't bring himself to do it. It would just hurt her even more.

They both arrived home, and wordlessly got out of the car. She seemed to be in a really miserable mood rather than a bad one, but he didn't breach any of the subjects that happened today with her.

It was late in the night, dawn nowhere nearby. It would do for both of them to get some sleep, but after the fight, they would both be hungry. And hungry they were indeed.

As they entered the house, Ryukyu went into the kitchen, and it was there when she finally spoke.

"We've both had a long day, and it would be good to freshen up. The shower is right next to the bedroom you slept in earlier," she told him, tone of voice lacking any sort of strength.

Not wanting to worsen her current mood, Tanjirou agreed. "Okay. I'll be back quick," he replied.

Taking the fresh bag of clothes that was laying abandoned since they came back, he went right back upstairs.

The shower was….. an enlightening experience.

With a strange metal head attached to what looked like another metal hose, there was something on the wall that looked like one of the doorknobs on the doors that points towards the kanji that translated to "cold" and "hot" on the sides.

Turning the knob all the way to "hot" he was surprised, but not disappointed.

From the head above him, hot water sprayed out, not unlike the waterfall that Urokodaki had him constantly sit under and "attune himself" with it.

It sucked, yet it was effective.

But wasn't that training in general?

It could function as a bath and training technique at the same time. Maybe he should experiment with it later? Now, he had no time. Maybe some other day.

After finishing the shower, feeling fresher than he had in a long while, he went downstairs to a smell in the kitchen that indicated that Ryukyu had made a simple Tempura dish. It seemed like she had finished eating relatively early, because she was bringing an empty plate to a nearby sink.

He sensed that she didn't want to be talked to at the moment, so he decided to eat his meal quickly and in silence. It wasn't extravagant, but it definitely wasn't bad.

After finishing his meal and setting his plate down, Ryukyu spoke once more in a low voice.

"Tanjirou? Could you come here for a second?" Was it sadness, or something else? It wasn't anything good, if he was going by her prior emotions, but he did it anyway.

He and Ryukyu were sitting across from each other, on the couches that were there.

"I've been a terrible hero, haven't I?"

That was a line that he wasn't expecting to hear. Though it would make the self-loathing part make sense. But why? She's trying to be the best hero she could be!

"At first when Tsukauchi told me to take over your probation, I wasn't sure I could do it. I was, and still am, terrible with kids. I'm not someone a kid should be looking up to, especially one that hasn't seen any other example of a hero."

She broke off for a while, sitting in silence once more. There was a story about to be told, Tanjirou could tell. It was the same with Yoriichi on that night in his cabin.

"Then I thought to myself, if I outright refused the boy, and left him on the streets or with someone else, what would that make me? So I decided to give it a shot. It was only a week, what could go wrong?" She let out a light laugh, if only to calm herself. The look on her face told a completely different story than that laugh.

"I was enjoying it, a little too much. The life of a hero is never all that good. I should have expected that. I let my guard down too far, and the one that I was supposed to protect nearly got killed from right under my sight." A look of anger took over her face, until she looked at Tanjirou, and tried to mask it.

"I thought I could have stopped him then and there, but what did I do? I let him slip. He slipped literally from under my hand, and got to you. Put a knife in your face, and I wasn't even the one to stop it, you were."

Tanjirou began to realize where she was getting at. She was blaming herself because she was supposed to protect him, but didn't. She thought she failed in her job as a hero.

"Then I heard about why the bastard was there in the first place. Because of me. Again. Because I didn't save his family, he turned like this. He tried to take what I cared about. I was so worried that because of my incompetence, it would get an innocent boy killed."

Tanjirou made to speak, to try to reason with her, try to tell her that it wasn't her fault, she did the best she could, he didn't blame her at all, anything, but he was silenced when she continued once more.

"Even though I try to help people, I end up making things a lot worse for people that had nothing to do with the situation in the first place. I'm not helping things at all. I'm doing the opposite. Does that even make me a hero at all?"

Tanjirou intervened, trying to help her. He understood where he was coming from. She had the power to help people, but all her efforts made things go the wrong way. She didn't have bad intentions at all, and that was what mattered to him.

His mind was blank at first, then the words came flowing out.

"It was four years ago when I lost my parents and most of my family."

She looked up, her gaze shifting into surprise quickly then she thought one could. She was listening with rapt attention.

"A villain came to attack that day, and to this day, I still don't know why he did it. I came back from selling charcoal in the mountains, and I found my family dead on the floor." The memories of that first day started to hit him, but he kept going nonetheless.

"When I saw the bodies, I ran over to see if they were alive. They were all dead, except for my sister. I took her. I took her and ran, to find someone who could help, as fast as I could. I didn't have my quirk at the time, and my lungs were burning from running more than I had ever done."

He remembered the face of Giyuu, who was about to kill his sister for what she became, and how he pleaded with him to let her live.

"Then I saw a man. He had a bright blue sword, and he knew how to use it. I don't know if he was a hero, or something else, but I asked him. I asked him to save my sister. And that day, he told me, 'Stop looking so pathetic, lying on the floor like that. Pleading won't do any good. If it had, then your family wouldn't have been dead.' He was right. It didn't. But even then, I tried. I tried all I could to save her. Even if that man said that it was no use."

He remembered chucking his axe at Giyuu, and how he moved so fast he couldn't see it. It was like he teleported. He knew he couldn't hear Giyuu, so he threw it to catch him by surprise.

"So he told me to go see an old man that lived down on the mountain, and that he could save my sister, and help me become stronger."

He remembered the first demon he had tried to kill, and he remembered seeing Urokodaki for the first time.

"And save her he did. I lived with him for a year, and he taught me many things. How to use my quirk. How to survive. I learned many important lessons from him during that year."

He remembered them cutting the boulder, Sabito, Makomo, all his adventures, and how he saw Giyuu on Mount Natagumo.

"I met that same man again later, who I discovered that he was a hero, and he was in pursuit of the villain that killed my parents that day. He told me this himself later, and to this day, I still don't blame him for what happened."

"He told me that I got stronger, very much so. I wasn't who I was back then, and I had learned from the things that have happened to me."

He stopped reflecting back on his memories, and looked back to Ryukyu.

"I don't blame you at all, Ryukyu-san. You were trying your best to help, and you were trying to help that man and his family too. You tried your best, and even made the decision to watch over me for the week. I'm not angry. In fact, I'm grateful," he told her, trying to calm her worries.

"The things you feel right now were probably the same things that Giyuu felt that day. A little bit of guilt. But everyone isn't expected to be perfect. Giyuu wasn't. You aren't. And certainly not me. So, it's all right to make mistakes at times."

Ryukyu, who was listening to the whole story, started to finally react at the end, a small twitch upwards of the corner of her lips, and small tears.

"Now I'm wondering who really is the little kid here…. To think I actually would get a life lesson from someone more than half my age… hahahahahaha…" she started to laugh uncontrollably at the end, to which Tanjirou joined in a little while later.

When she stopped, she told him one last thing, "Thank you, Tanjirou. That really helped out, more than I care to admit."

Tanjirou just shook his head. "We all need something to keep us up at one point or another. I'm just glad I was able to help."

She then abruptly stood up. "It's getting kind of late, and we both need some rest for what I have planned tomorrow."

Tanjirou looked at her, confused. She had a plan? But what was it?

"You want to be a hero in the future, right? Then from tomorrow, I'm going to show you what it really means to become one."

A bright smile once more took over Tanjirou's face. Finally, the moment he had been waiting for.

* * *

**A/N It's been two weeks since the last chapter, and oh boy I don't regret writing this much that fast.**

**I'm sure you all can tell that I'm utterly terrible at writing action. That was supposed to be half the chapter, but it ended up being only 2K words. Damn.**

**Anyway, I'll probably have to look over the action once I get flamed for it, but for now, I gotta grind. The grind keeps going.**

**The shelter-in-place order is certainly helping. I get a lot more time for writing in. I've also picked up some games, new and old. Clash of Clans, Marvel Contest of Champions, and yes, Fate Grand Order.**

**I'm gonna regret this.**

**Make sure to check my profile for story progress, I update that every day.**

**Anyway, I'm safe, healthy, and sanitizing. Hopefully so are all of you guys. Make sure to stay safe, this shit aint a joke, and thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 4

**There was a wide amount of positive feedback coming from the last chapter. I am…. I can't even describe it. Happy? Glad? Ecstatic? Maybe a little confused? I don't even know.**

**All I can say is I appreciate every bit of support. **

**But every writer says that, so I can't really convince you.**

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

After a long night of anticipation which Tanjirou failed to suppress despite his best efforts, he finally fell asleep on the bed that still felt like heaven.

What wouldn't he give to soak in this bliss for eternity?

Sleeping soundlessly all the way up until sunrise, Tanjirou managed to pick his body off of the guest bed, drag his feet down the stairs once more, and rub the exhaustion out his eyes before the all too familiar light of day struck his eyes again, along with the first floor of the house he was currently in.

It was a repetitive cycle, and it hadn't even been that long since he came here. But alas, when things were hectic, too many things could happen in the blink of an eye.

It's been 24 hours since he arrived in this world, and he really couldn't say it was a day wasted. He learned many things that he wouldn't have known about this world otherwise, and he was happy with that.

Now it was finally time to take the first step forward to becoming the hero that he needed to become. That the world needed him to become.

After finding something already waiting for him, which was a light breakfast, he had asked Ryukyu when they would begin their training, and that he was ready to go.

Normally, he wouldn't be this impatient, but he couldn't stop his young mind from rushing her to get some training done. Unfortunate side effects of turning into a literal child, but it just made it all the more believable, or so he hoped.

Ryukyu didn't seem to mind. "Not at the moment. There are still preparations that I have to make. For now, go change into some athletic attire, something informal and loose would do."

That was fair. And he had just the thing. He was itching to put it on.

Rushing back up the stairs, he hastily opened his wardrobe, or what his current guardian named a "closet", and shifted through the small amount of clothing that he had gotten to find the article of clothing he was on his mind.

He had noticed something in that clothing store that looked suspiciously familiar to another uniform that existed in his world. It was a plain black shirt, along with a matching pair of pants, made from a material which the tags on the back called "condensed synthetic fabric". It claimed to be tougher than regular clothing, and could be used for nearly every sporting environment.

It was a mini Demon Slayer uniform.

It wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough in its usage that he instantly snatched it off the rack. And now, he put it on.

It felt familiar yet at the same time it wasn't. It wasn't intrusive, and it fit quite nicely and wasn't baggy anywhere.

However, it was different in the way that he could feel the differences on certain parts of his body. It felt as if there was a strange weight on his arms, shoulders, and legs, places that just didn't feel right.

The only thing that came up in his mind when he felt that was when you got something new, such as footwear, it felt off for a while on the sole of your foot until you got used to it. It was supposed to be subtle, but not on the level he was experiencing.

It might have just been something different to how this world makes its clothing. He wasn't sure, however it definitely didn't seem hand-made like how most things were.

That was his guess, but he couldn't even begin to know everything that happened in this new world. From cars that could travel at the same speed or even faster than Shinobu, the fastest Demon Slayer, the possibilities could be endless.

There was probably something that made clothes automatically. Such a thing wouldn't even surprise him anymore.

To him, new clothing felt the same either way. You weren't used to it when you first wore it, especially if it was a quality that you never owned before. He first felt that way when he received his Demon Slayer uniform, and he would get more used to this with time.

He then slipped on his new combat shoes, or "athletic shoes" as the box had said, which were quite frankly a lot better, and he meant no disrespect to the makers, than his regular battle sandals that he wore during combat.

His old sandals, something that he had been using for the past 2 years, were both comfortable and secure, and allowed him to make all kinds of movements without any trouble. With a strap in the back ankle, and a cushion on the sole of his feet, it gave him no problems.

However, these new shoes, something that would normally be reserved for someone like the Emperor or similar nobility, gave him that and a lot more.

They wrapped securely around his ankles, and they fully covered the entirety of his foot, front and back. It made for running around and doing maneuvers such as kicks a lot easier and avoided placing unnecessary stress on his feet.

It would also make them hit a _lot _harder. All in all, a sound improvement. Just like with the clothes, there was an odd weight in his foot, especially because whenever he lifted it, the shoe sometimes dangled and moved around.

Maybe it was too loose? No, he should be grateful to have something like this. This was much more than he would have expected, even considering the fact that he saw literally everyone around having them.

Now fully dressed out in attire that made him look like a nendoroid version of himself from when he was his actual age of 16 (minus the haori of course), he went back down and outside, and opened a door that was opposite to the entrance to what looked like a miniature garden, except that around it there was a large section in which there was concrete flooring.

It reminds him of the Butterfly Estate in more ways than one. An open area that could be used for training, picnics, clothes drying, outdoor baths, and many, many other things.

A part of him wanted to remember, another, not so much.

The beginning of that training wasn't good.

Not at all.

He had learned things there because of that harshness. Chief among them was Total Concentration Constant. However, there was another important thing, something that Urokodaki also emphasized. It became habitual to him, and should be for everyone.

Stretching was always a necessity before someone did any sort of training. Especially if said someone suddenly puts their muscles under massive amounts of stress, like during sparring, or worse an actual fight with a demon.

That's why all Demon Slayers, when headed to dangerous areas during the night on missions, made sure to stretch. The last thing they needed, especially the people living in that area, was the Demon Slayer injured, the one person that had to take care of the demon.

It happened more often than people would expect.

People usually don't think to do so in the heat of battle, and it was a prime issue given that the enemy wasn't going to give you time in the middle to stretch. They wouldn't care about that, they would just rush you.

So do it beforehand. It's better to be prepared and not let anything happen than to be dead.

Sure, he was able to block out most pain during fighting, and even if he did get hurt, it wouldn't matter to him. But that was mostly because of the increased flow of adrenaline due to Total Concentration Breathing nullifying the pain.

However, muscle tears and cramps get very annoying at times. It causes weakness of the limbs when you don't expect it, and that can be deadly in his line of work. Demon Slayers had to be at full strength against demons.

While he was stretching, sitting on the floor with his legs out and touching the back of his foot, Ryukyu had come out from the house, dressed in her regular hero clothing, something that Tanjirou had only seen once before yesterday. A red qipao with one side open, and a black band strapped around her thigh, and…

"Ryukyu-san, What is that thing on the side of your face?"

He finally took in the claw-like item on her face that was covering her right eye.

What was the point of that? All it was doing was hindering her vision!

Ryukyu followed his gaze, which was aimed at the side of her face, and instantly knew what she was talking about. She smiled a little on the inside.

People all too often assumed that many things on a hero costume are just for aesthetics, and that they sacrificed some advantages just to look good. If she were to be honest, a lot of heroes do that, so it would be a reasonable assumption to make.

Tanjirou likely thought that the claws were just to fit with the appearance of the "Dragon Hero" name, but she would be lying if she said that she didn't care about that.

In fact, it served a completely different purpose. Multiple purposes, actually, but she wouldn't reveal that now. Might as well make it part of the lesson plan.

Maintaining her neutral face to conceal her thoughts, she simply replied, "You'll see soon enough. For now, let's start with some simpler things."

Tanjirou sat up and nodded, readying himself for what was to come. Maybe a sudden attack and a test to see what he could do? A training regiment? Different things were going through his head, all thinking and preparing.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to ask a question out of the blue.

"What do you think it means to be a hero?"

He felt his body relax, and then be taken over with confusion. He'd thought she was going to start off with maybe a light spar, not a question!

He allowed himself to bring his thoughts back to the question at hand. What did it mean to be a hero? All he had was what Yoriichi told him, and the various things that Ryukyu said the night before.

Yoriichi had told him that the heroes of the world acted as peacekeepers, people who tried to keep society running without any problems.

The main difference between Heroes and regular police officers was ability. Heroes specialized in improving their quirks to subjugate people, or villains, who used their power out-of-hand.

It was necessary because in this society, there was no other way to stop them. Quirks had to be combated with quirks.

Just like demons had to be combated with Demon Slayers with Breath Styles.

People with power used them to protect the ones that didn't have a power that could, and stop the ones that used power for their own monetary gain.

That was the whole point of Heroes. A regular society without power would just have a police force to make sure that people were acting under the law, and they were given certain privileges to enforce that.

Because if the people didn't have any power to abuse, there wouldn't be Heroes around to stop it.

"I think heroes are people that use their power to protect the ones that don't have abilities adequate to help others. They also help stop people who use their powers for bad things," he finally answered, reiterating some of the things that the first Demon Slayer had told him.

Ryukyu listened to his explanation, and started to nod slightly.

"I think you have a general idea of what Heroes are supposed to be, but you got down what they appear to be from the civilian perspective. Being in the profession itself is that and a lot more."

The civilian perspective? Or the outside view, and what the results actually are? Same difference.

She paused and started to elaborate more on her point.

"To put it as best as I can, heroes are people that are licensed, or given permission from the government to use their quirks to help people. And it's not just villains. It's about protecting the people from natural disasters or any other kind of harm that can come their way."

She could see the gears turning in Tanjirou's head, and was secretly glad that what she was saying was making sense.

A lot of times she tried to explain things, it didn't work out too well.

"About the power part, you aren't wrong there. Except there isn't really something called a 'strong quirk'. It's just about how well you use it. There are certainly a lot of quirks that can cause a lot of damage, but if someone doesn't know how to use it, it can lead to lots of damage for the person and the people around it."

Like stomping around as a fully formed dragon, and crushing everything in her wake. She could relate on far too many levels to even comprehend.

She pointed to herself. "My quirk was like that too. I couldn't fully use it until the start of junior high. All it would result in was an incomplete dragon transformation. Then once I was finally able to turn completely into a dragon, I destroyed many things during my training at U.A."

Tanjirou, digesting this information, seemed to have an idea where she was getting at. People with power had to learn to not let that affect the civilians around them.

She continued on. "Powerful quirks don't necessarily mean it's easier to be a hero. That's one of the main things that Hero schools teach you, and the other thing is increasing the capabilities with your quirks. Once you are at a level where your quirk can be effective, they teach you how to control that in certain situations when they arise."

So what she was saying was that increasing your power and then controlling it was what you learned in Hero school?

"That shouldn't be a problem for you, but don't take my word for it. Your quirk has basic strength augmentation, sort of like All Might's quirk in a way, but a lot less destructive," she said, clarifying his thoughts.

No one could compare to All Might's strength, but at the end of the day, his quirk was strength enhancement. A lot of people could do that, but not just at the level that he could.

"The details and all of that will be elaborated more in Hero schools, but for now, the main focus should be grasping a base for your power. There was a teacher at U.A who summed it up perfectly. 'Know your own maximum first.' We need to see what you can do, and what you're capable of before we start training. Then, we can work on improvement."

How did she even manage to come up with something like that on the spot? This wasn't her. Where did Ryuko Tatsuma go? She wasn't usually like this! She would normally be a wreck, and get everything wrong. She wasn't a smart person by any means, where did all this appear?

God damn, she was starting to sound like every generic teacher that she's had over the years!

Tanjirou, on the other hand, nodded. The same thing that Urokodaki made him do. See if you could run down the hill, and only then he will start training him.

"So how do we do this?" he asked.

She paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought about something, and then beckoned him with one hand. "For now, just attack me wherever. In any way. It doesn't matter what you do, and a villain won't care if your attacks are 'fair'."

"Got it!" He balled his fists, and examined the way she was standing. She stood in a relaxed position, arms loose by her sides, and feet shoulder-width apart, not bent, making it clear that she wasn't going to make any move to him.

He had to make the first move.

Normally, he would let the enemy make the first move in hand-to-hand combat, since it was easier to anticipate it and work from there. It was easier to defend than to attack, and this way, you can figure out how they attack, how strong they are, their attack speed, all of these factors matter. It let you figure out what to do next.

However, if one was fast and/or strong enough, he could break through their guard and get a clean hit off, get them winded, and finish them off as fast as possible before they could retaliate.

Prime example, Inosuke. He charged him hard enough to break a rib or two, which slowed him down enough to match him. Taking the time to figure out his fighting style of going for low shots and fighting like a four-legged beast, he compensated for going low. That allowed him to work with his style, and eventually counter it, knocking him out with a not-so-small headbutt.

He knew he couldn't do that there. One, because he wasn't strong enough. Two, because of quirks. All he knew about it was it let her turn completely or parts of her into a dragon. He didn't know how much power it had, how fast she could go.

Because he was never on the receiving end of it. Looking at someone fight off to the side and actually fighting them head on were two different things. Observing them from the side was only good for looking at what types of movements they made, so you can defend against the general direction of the attack.

These were the first things that Urokodaki had taught him about combat.

_If you encounter an enemy that is stronger and faster than you, make up for it with the mind. Compensate with strategy. Bait him. Use feints. They will go for it, because Demons are the ones trying to take your life, and they are the ones that want to survive, and the only way they can do that is to get rid of the Demon Slayers._

He recalled that advice from Urokodaki and even Hashiras like Giyuu and Shinazugawa, but that only worked for demons.

Demons, if you put some thought into it, were beings with special power too. It gave them enhancements and regeneration, along with a Blood Demon Art. Who said it wouldn't be too different here?

Could strategies that work against demons here?

Approaching her slowly, he breathed in and out, getting his blood flowing. He didn't have a Nichirin Blade, so he was at a disadvantage compared to when he usually faught.

_**Total Concentration Breathing!**_

He bent his legs forward and dashed towards her, head on, so that she didn't know which side he was going to strike at.

He raised his left fist, which he cocked back, and threw a punch directly towards the left side of her chest, to disorient her.

Or that was what he wanted her to think. But it didn't matter, because it wouldn't have landed anyway.

It was hard to tell, but he knew that she was ready for that. When he put his hand back, he watched her left eye slowly move towards the direction of his fist, and even though he knew she couldn't see her right side, she was trained to anticipate that attack.

Instead, he threw his fist, but not at her. At the last second, he drew it back in, towards him, and because his last step was on his left foot, he spun his body forward while putting additional pressure on it. With the added momentum from his twist, his front flip made for a nasty turn.

And his foot aimed directly for her head.

His main reason for doing this was because he knew she expected an attack on her right side. Everyone would know that people would go for the points where you couldn't see their attacks, or their blind spots, and Ryukyu had a glaringly obvious one. So she expected people to attack there.

And they did, which meant that she would be better at defending from there than her left side.

Secondly, he wanted to test the effect of his new shoes. If he launched a kick at full power along with Total Concentration Breathing, what would that do.

"Haaaaaah!"

With a yell, he brought his foot down as fast and as hard as he could, only for it to be caught.

By something metal.

He looked at her once again from his current position and realized that the metal part that was covering her face was now gone, and had gone into her enlarged and now draconic hand.

_So that's what it was used for._

Before she could capitalize on that, he moved his foot back, and fell back on his hands, which, with help from Total Concentration Breathing, he used to push his small form up and over, back to a standing position.

By all rights he shouldn't have been able to do that. His untrained body wasn't supposed to handle his weight.

But that's what Breath Styles were for, surpassing human limits.

Inhaling and exhaling once more, he went on the aggressive. Throwing one punch after another on the minuscule openings that he could find, he tried to break through her guard. Towards her stomach, legs, shoulders, face. Anywhere that she wouldn't be able to react fast enough to, anywhere where she would be put in an awkward position, he struck at.

It wasn't easy. Her draconic hands absorbed most of the impact that his fists made, and the vibrations that the impact sent back through his body slowed him down a lot more than he would have liked.

Ryukyu occasionally dodged or caught it on her metal hand piece, which was not at all comfortable for him. He wasn't able to get a single good shot onto her.

He just wasn't fast enough at the moment.

He repeated this sequence of events for a while, until it started to get too repetitive. She was just making the same moves over and over, but able to dodge them this whole time.

Drawing out fights and suddenly changing it out works to your advantage in many situations. Being on the offensive means they have control of the situation, and the movements that you make also affect the movements that the one on the defensive makes.

You also control any sudden changes that can catch them off guard.

After a final string of attacks, he took another breath, once again accelerating his blood flow, and increased his speed even further.

After throwing a left hook, instead of throwing from the right, he shot his foot up. He saw her hand come up in defense of his hand, but that was a lot higher than where he aimed his kick at.

It was a perfect opening, and it was sure to hit.

Until she enlarged her arm, growing scales and other hard things that completely blocked it.

"Ah!"

He instantly regretted that. Those scales weren't there for decoration.

Pain blossomed from the point of contact throughout the front of his leg. He hopped away on his other foot before trying to reset his weight onto the injured foot.

Ryukyu, witnessing his pain, broke her stance and rushed over.

"Shit, are you okay?" She said that purely out of impulse, and forgot who she was in the presence of until a few seconds afterwards.

_Wait, did I just swear in front of a kid?_

Tanjirou didn't seem to notice or mind, as he set his foot down, albeit with a slight grimace.

"I'm fine. It was just a bit uncomfortable." He felt and experienced much worse pain before. He wasn't bothered too much by it, and it would go away in time.

Ryukyu didn't seem so convinced. Her scales had the potential to hurt even an adult who had a pretty exceptional pain tolerance.

"You sure? These scales can hurt when something comes full speed into it," she replied with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. See? I'm walking just fine. No need to worry." He walked around evenly, putting weight on both legs to try to relieve her worries. Seeing the display, she put it to the side.

"Well, if you say so." She didn't believe it, but he would probably tell her if it bothered him.

Maybe? She didn't know how he thought.

What does she do now? She let him try to hit her once, but he wasn't able to do it. She was trying to teach him something, but what was it…..?

Oh right.

"Alright, let's stop for now and see what we got from this." She gestured to the door that led inside, and they both walked in, sitting down on the couches once again.

She still couldn't remember. And she would make herself look like a fool in front of him. He literally hurt himself on her scales for no reason….

Maybe she could tell him about how heroes could use weapons that were hidden on them? He was asking about her metal claw earlier. Maybe that could be a lesson.

What else…..?

Right. Quirk improvement.

"So what happened during that whole thing back there? What new things did you see?" Damn, she could have phrased that better.

Once again, he didn't seem to notice. Or care. He did that a lot. Someone who could seem so smart at one time could then seem so oblivious to other things around him was just strange to her.

"You used the metal claw on your face as a weapon," he responded, clearly impressed. Good thing that he wasn't too mad about her using it against him.

It was a lesson one had to learn eventually. There were a multitude of items on someone's person that could be used as a weapon, or even something that is hidden in plain sight. She just used her claw to make it seem like part of her costume, but it serves a double purpose of a weapon.

She took out the claw from her hand, and held it up so that Tanjirou could get a better look at it.

"Things like these are known as Support Items. These are items that go somewhere on a costume, as something that can help with quirk usage or even simple things like extra protection or another way of attacking. Most heroes have them, because they need them for whatever situation may arise. This is mine," she explained to him. The sun filtering through the window gave the claw a bright sheen, illuminating it as if it were some sort of grand object on a pedestal.

Tanjirou admired it, his bright red orbs staring at the piece as if he hadn't seen anything like it before. He most likely hadn't, so she let him keep at it. In the meantime, she continued her explanation.

"My scales can sometimes do the job of protecting me from all kinds of attacks, but there are times when I need some sort of sharp tool or some metal to cut through things without destroying the area around it. This has come useful in ways I didn't think about when I first had this made."

Tanjirou nodded his head in understanding. "I see! You use support items to do what your quirk might not let you do. That's pretty smart!"

Breath styles were made to be versatile and used in all types of scenarios, so he hadn't really had the thought of using something other than Nichirin blades on his various adventures. That was something that he had to put some more thought into.

Ryukyu smiled at the boy's compliment. "When you have a quirk that has obvious flaws, it's easier to make support items for it. I originally had this, and I still carry it around with me at times, but it doesn't work all that well." From the strap on her thigh, she pulled out something from a leather sheath attached to it.

Wrapped in a dark black hilt with some geometrical designs, she held a short sword, approximately 60 centimeters long, with a clear, curved blade that held a round cross section. Tanjirou recognized this immediately. Why wouldn't he?

Wakizashi were notorious for being held by Samurai, and coming from a time where they were extremely prevalent, it was always the dream of kids to be able to walk on a battlefield holding one, along with a Katana.

"This is a Wakizashi, a blade that was used mostly by Samurai back in Imperial Japan," she explained. "It's short, but it's light and extremely strong. Many heroes with strength-enhancement quirks similar to yours have some sort of bladed weapon to help them, and I really don't have a use for this anymore."

She took off the sheath from her strap and put the Wakizashi back in. "If you want to use this, you can. It's really useful if you learn how to use it properly, which was something I wasn't able to do. This could be your first support item if you want it to be."

Tanjirou kept looking at the weapon with interest, and a bit of conflicting thoughts.

Should he take it? It wasn't a question of whether or not he could use it. Of course he could. He had fought demons with his sword completely snapped, except with a few centimeters of metal. He could get by the small reach.

The main question on his mind was how he would use it when he would become a Hero.

His techniques were meant to pierce and kill demons. Breath styles did that. If he were now in a place where he couldn't kill people, then how would that work? Bladed weapons were prone to damage every time they were involved.

Ryukyu saw the look on his face, and she put it down. "If you don't want to take it that's fine. There are plenty of heroes that don't use any support weapons, or come up with better ones over time. Once you have more time to think about it, it'll be easier to think what will work best."

Tanjirou broke out of his thoughts, and quickly denied her claims. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I would be honored to have something like this, but…" He broke off, and Ryukyu tried to fill the gap with her best guess.

"You don't know how to use it? That's underst-"

Tanjirou interrupted before she could get the wrong idea. "Actually, the old man that I told you about yesterday was a swordmaster. He taught me a lot about blades and how to use them. I'm confident I can, but won't it be dangerous if I use it as a main weapon?"

Ryukyu raised an eyebrow. "You were already taught swordplay?" Huh. That makes things a lot easier. "Interesting. As for dangerous, that might be a good question…"

She thought about different things that he could do to get around that.

Would it even be dangerous in the first place? She knew many people who used much more questionable things as weapons, and they were able to get along just fine. Snipe literally uses a gun, without rubber bullets! What can be more dangerous than that?

Swords have non-lethal takedown methods, that could be a way to use them…..

Eh. She could probably put some thought into it, and give him ideas, but in the end, it would be his decision. She wasn't going to choose for him, that would be just unfair.

"You can come up with ideas for your support items as you train further. You have years to figure it out. For now, let's just relax, and smell the roses," she finally told him, leaning back.

"Eh? But what about training? We only did one spar!" he protested. Did he really want to train more? His leg was probably still hurting, it hasn't even been that long.

"We can continue training tomorrow if you really want to do it. For now, just rest that leg. It's not good to train while hurt, it'll just worsen the condition," she told him, trying and failing to use a stern voice.

"Really, Ryukyu-san, I'm fi-"

Tanjirou tried to get off of the sofa, and found his foot slightly wobbling, unable to handle his weight.

How? He had fought on broken bones before, and he wasn't even feeling any pain! So why…?

Ryukyu saw this, and her face softened a little. "Look, when you're hurt, there's no need to act tough. The more you do that, the less chance you give it of healing. Just let it relax for now, it'll get better in no time."

Tanjirou looked like he wanted to say more, but then thought better of it. He sat back down on the couch, but not before grabbing the Wakizashi off the table.

He took the leather sheath off, and examined it with his own hands. It was a lot lighter than his Nichirin blade, and definitely not as well-made. Haganezuka really knew his stuff when it came to those types of things.

But it wasn't terrible either. The balance was pretty good. Rather than being even on all parts of the blade, it compensated for the blade length by putting more weight on the hilt, allowing for more power.

He swung it in the air a few times as a test. It was easy to direct, and a lot of force could be put behind it. If a bit more care were to be put into it, it could make for quite the formidable weapon. There was evidence of the blade turning dull, after all. That was the last thing someone wanted.

Finally satisfied after examining the blade, Tanjirou tried to brainstorm ways of using said blade in a non-lethal way. It wasn't like he had anything else to do at the moment.

There most likely was some way, given how advanced things were here, that allowed him to use a sword without trying to cut into some sort of skin. The other way, or the way he would have done it back in his world, would have been to use an extra sword that was intentionally dull.

He had tried dual-wielding once before, when Inosuke tried to convince him to change his style. He could use a sword in either hand, but something about holding them at the same time just wasn't right with him.

_Is that all you got, Monjiro? Come on!_

That didn't go well.

He had years of time now, maybe he could see if it would work? No, he should probably leave that as a last resort. He wasn't sure if learning that would be a good idea, considering he was too used to this one.

He would have to ask Ryukyu to see if there were options that would be available to him.

Meanwhile, what to do now? He couldn't train, he couldn't find ideas…

He was bored out of his mind!

_I take it back! This isn't an ideal situation at all!_

* * *

Never before had the atmosphere been this tense. No one spoke a word, and a deathly silence filled the three heroes as they began to process the situation they were currently in.

Toshinori Yagi did not want to believe this reality. And yet it was here. He tried, he tried to fruitlessly maintain calm within himself. However, he just couldn't. The single man he hated beyond all others, was finally back.

He would never forget the face. The face of the man, towering over a city of rubble, standing amidst those churning flames that night. He still had occasional nightmares about it to this day, to the time he crushed his master without mercy.

After 6 years, he was back. He made his appearance, and it was something that he couldn't pass up. He, Gran Torino, and Nighteye have waited for this day to come.

He had trained himself as hard as he possibly could to even stand a chance against him. As the current wielder of One For All, it was his duty to put an end to him.

And end him he would.

"Calm yourself, Toshinori. Letting your emotions run high here isn't going to help the situation," The old man spoke from the side of the room as he leaned on the wall, watching his student pace back and forth in the private room of Nighteye's study.

Gran Torino noticed how tense he was, and he recognized the anger bubbling underneath the massive frame of All Might. Due to his old age, he had seen many things. Too many to count, and out of all the experiences he had as a hero, the one that was most prevalent among the many causes of failure was rage.

Rage clouded the mind, and caused them to make rash decisions that they normally wouldn't make. They took risks, all because of one goal. They tossed aside all repercussions of their actions and it bit them in the ass later.

This was the issue that was facing All Might right now. And it wasn't something he could just punch his way out of.

"Calm? Sir, how can I remain calm after that… _monster_ has returned? You of all people should understand-"

Gran Torino wasn't having it. "Don't think even for a second that I don't understand the importance of this situation. I am well aware of what that man has done to my sworn friend. But I don't let that rage take over me. That's what gets heroes killed."

The silence came back yet again as Toshinori glared at his teacher through his fierce, blue eyes. Before he could retaliate, Nighteye spoke up.

"He's right, All Might. This is a chance that is quite literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we botch things up here, it can get one of us killed, and All for One goes back into hiding for years. All that it will accomplish is additional danger to society, and that is the last thing we need."

His words seemed to calm down the Symbol of Peace slightly, as he continued to pace around the room.

He once again spoke up after a while.

"Why can't we just use Nighteye's quirk to see what's going to happen, where he is, and take him down that way?"

Nighteye looked up at him, not sure if he heard him correctly. "My quirk is always 100 percent correct, no matter what steps we take to make sure an event doesn't happen. If I predict a failure here and now, nothing we do can stop that from happening. You should know this, All Might."

He should have. He worked with Nighteye for years now. This predicament definitely was taking a massive toll on his psyche as of lately.

Gran Torino was listening to the conversation and of his student's suggestion, and thought it over. It wasn't a bad idea by any means, aside from the points that Nighteye himself stated. They were coming at it from the right angle, they just needed some more thinking.

"Can we do anything else with your quirk to help us out here, Nighteye?" Torino asked. Nighteye knew better than anyone about his own quirk, after all.

"My quirk can make accurate predictions through time. All I can do is select certain time intervals. If I overshoot it by even a tiny bit, it might spell game over for us."

They really were at an impasse here. There was such high stakes here, but this would be the best chance that they had in a long time. They couldn't afford to wait.

If Nighteye couldn't predict anything in case of a loss, then…

A realization struck at that moment in Gran Torino.

_Time Intervals?_

That wording. If they could predict a time right before they fought All For One without actually looking through the battle, then they could get his location and the time that he would appear, and prepare for it, without running the risk of losing it.

And even better, they could evacuate said predicted area before the fight even occurs, and ensure that no one found out about All For One, and no casualties would occur.

They all knew how much that man loved casualties. He was the Symbol of Evil after all.

He broke the silence with his suggestion. "Nighteye, if you could predict the time all the way up to where and when All For One appears, but not the battle itself, do we still have the possibility of winning?"

All Might had stopped pacing around the room, and had instead been standing in silence, trying to calm himself down. Hearing this, his head snapped up to stare at both his teacher and his sidekick.

Nighteye thought this over. It wasn't the most perfect plan they had, but it was certainly better than anything that they had come up with so far. The only flaw that he could find was that the farther into the future he went, the more hazy the predictions became. He would need to be careful in his precision for this to work.

"It's definitely doable. It isn't foolproof, but it is the best we can come up with. I'll have to be as precise as I possibly can however, and that will take time."

"How long?" All Might asked, latching on to this plan instantly. He would take anything that would lead to success, if it would lead to him gone.

"It depends on when he will appear, but I would say at the minimum, 10 minutes."

They both nodded. A small price to pay for the knowledge they would receive.

"Alright. Do it." All Might kept his eyes open, blue eyes staring unblinkingly at Nighteye as he actictivated his quirk, his pupils took a deep shade of purple, and formed outlines of a blank clock. This was what happened to his eyes whenever he looked into predictions. His eyes roamed left and right, undoubtedly looking into All Might's immediate futures

Gran Torino came up to All Might. "Let him do his job for now, Toshinori. All we can do is wait." All Might stood unmoving, and after a few moments, he walked away from Nighteye.

Once they were a distance away from Nighteye, the long time Hero tried to talk to the Symbol once more. "I know how much this means to you, Toshinori. Don't get me wrong there. I want him gone just as much as you do. But you need to remember that you cannot fall here. No matter what happens. Japan still needs the Symbol of Peace, and if he has returned, they need him now more than ever."

All Might took the words of his teacher in, and closed his eyes. He unconsciously clenched his fists. "I know, sir. But after all this time, I can't shake off this feeling. Not after what he has done. He cannot be allowed to threaten the world any more than he already has."

"And he will be. You're stronger than you were the last time. But letting your emotions run high is the last thing a hero can do. I've seen too many young ones make that mistake, and we can't afford anything that can drag you down."

All Might knew he was right, but he still couldn't make himself get rid of it. Even though he was the Symbol of Peace, he was still prone to feeling emotion during a battle. Even though he was smiling all the time, it didn't change what was on the inside.

"All For One knows that you're angry. And he'll exploit it to his advantage. He'll use that to control you. Bait you. Make you run into your own death. Don't let him. Push all of those asides. The important thing here is that you win. Win and take him down."

He smiled because the public needed to know that he was there. That as long as he still stood, they would be safe. That was his job. His duty, as a hero, as a Hero, the Symbol of Peace, and most importantly, as the wielder of One For All.

"I'll try to. I understand what you are trying to say, sir. I really do. But what I'm feeling right now isn't as easy to get rid of. However, there's no need to worry about me."

All Might's face shifted once more into his renowned smile, and looked down on Gran Torino.

"Something like this won't drag me down. Whether it's anger, sorrow, or fear that I'm currently feeling, I'm still the Symbol of Peace. That won't change. I won't let it control me. I can't let it control me. I won't give him any weaknesses. And I'll make sure to get this done, and let society be free from his clutches."

That he swore.

* * *

Tsukauchi was once more at his desk in the police station, attending to calls, filling out papers, the usual detective work that he had to go through.

Luckily there was a shortage of villain activity lately, which reduced his usual workload by a generous amount. But it didn't matter in the end. After all, when work disappears, more always finds a way to take its place. And this time, it took place in meetings. Lots of meetings.

He was beginning to be tired of talking. His voice was about to go hoarse from it, and he just couldn't be asked anymore. He just wanted to go home, and relax.

Awaiting a scheduled call from a certain Pro Hero for the report of a young red-headed boy, he balanced his phone on two of his fingers, with his head in his hand.

As he expected, the phone lit up, and he answered it within a single ring.

"Hello?"

"_Yo, Tsukauchi."_

As he expected, Ryukyu was on the other line, sounding completely bored and not wanting to have the call. But they both knew it was something that had to be done.

When kids were put on probation, the Hero that was in custody of them had to watch over them, and every two days, they had to submit some sort of report or analysis by email or over the phone about their actions, to see if they understood what they did shouldn't be done.

That was hardly necessary for Tanjirou, and they both knew it here.

"I'm pretty sure we both just want to be home and relax, something that you've been pretty much doing this whole time, so let's get this over with as fast as possible."

"_Yeah. Besides the villain attack yesterday, everything is fine here. Tanjirou did open up yesterday, and told me a bit about his past and what he wants to be, and I've been teaching him little things about what being a hero is."_

Definitely wasn't a bad thing. Not at all. Advice from a Pro Hero about how to be one was definitely invaluable information to have. He just had to hope that Tanjirou was doing his best to learn as much as he could from her.

"_Other than that, he's just a normal kid. A kid with dreams and aspirations just like any other. Although with a bit of a past behind him. There's no need for him to be cooped up here for any longer than there needs to be."_

Tsukauchi listened to this, filing some things in his mind to note down later about Tanjirou. But for now, he had other matters to deal with regarding him.

"Alright then. I'll set the end date to 5 days from now. But there's something else we need to discuss about him.

"_What is it?"_

"It's about what's going to happen to him after this whole thing ends."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Tsukauchi waited for an answer, but there wasn't for some period of time.

That could only mean that Tanjirou hasn't expressed any other plan for what he wanted to do. All he knew was that he eventually wanted to be a Hero.

"I take it he hasn't told you about what he wanted to do after this week ended?"

"_Can you blame him? He's just a kid. I doubt he's even thought about it. As much as he acts like an adult, he isn't one. Not yet. But I understand what you mean."_

The message went unspoken. She would try to find out what it was that he wanted to do, and she would tell him when that happened.

"Well then, I won't take up any more of your time than I already have. Make sure to keep the kid safe, and have a good rest of the day, Ryukyu."

"_You too, Tsukauchi."_

The phone sounded a beep, an indicator that the call had been disconnected. He set the phone down, not before quickly flashing it off and on again to check the time.

It was currently one in the afternoon, about time for lunch break. He grabbed his lunch and was about to make his way to the break room when the same phone that he had been using just a few seconds before started to ring again.

With a sigh, Tsukauchi put his lunch down and grabbed it off the desk.

"Seriously, I can't be asked anymore. This is just…" He trailed off as he saw the caller I.D.

_All Might?_

Why would he be calling now of all times?

No, he would only call if there was something important that he needed to know. All Might trusted him with his great secret for a reason.

Closing his computer, he picked up the phone and held it to his ear closely.

"Yes?"

"_Tsukauchi, are you there?"_ The voice of the Symbol of Peace came from the other end of the line. He could recognize this one as his true form of Toshinori Yagi, not the one that he keeps up to the public. "_Is there anyone around you right now that can overhear this conversation?"_

This had to be important. The line that they were using was secure, extremely so. If he were taking all these measures to avoid being overheard, this had something to do with One For All, or so he assumed.

"Not yet, but I can get there right now." He knew just the place he could go. Climbing up the stairs, he walked down the hall until he spotted the soundproof room that was mainly used for keeping watch on interrogations. It was designed for sound from the interrogation to come into this room without being heard.

Checking if anyone was there, and locking the door once more, he spoke back into the phone.

"Okay, there's no one nearby. You're free to talk now."

"_Do you remember what I told you about my quirk, and the one that created it?"_

"Yes, of course I remember. It was hard to believe at first, but it definitely makes sense once you consider the whole story you told me." The tale of All For One was certainly unbelievable, especially how one person could take as many quirks as he could at once. It was hard to imagine someone with that kind of power still on the loose.

"_He's returned. He's begun springing his plans into action to come after me and try to take me down."_ His voice sounded haunted and grim, even more so than it usually was.

Tsukauchi's eyes widened. How? He usually handled all of the reports of villain attacks that occured, but not once has he seen something that was evidence to All For One's return.

"What proof do you have of that? Did he attack you directly?"

"_No. I'm not sure even he would reveal himself in broad daylight like that. But it was someone else that he was able to transfer quirks to, and get him under his control. His Villain name was Toxic Chainsaw."_

He remembered reading about him on one of his reports, and it did say that All Might had taken him down. Yet, it only listed one quirk. Was he sure that there were two quirks, or was it two effects blended into one?

"Did he specifically say that he had multiple quirks? Or was it just multiple effects in one quirk?"

"_He told me later on as we fought that he had a 'master', and that it wasn't the only quirk he had. There's only one person that can do that."_

If that was what he said, it was quite explicit.

"So what are we going to do about it now?"

"_Gran Torino was able to come up with a plan that let us use Nighteye's quirk to find out when and where he will appear. We have the location, and the time is 3 days from now. We need to prepare for that, and that is where you come in."_

Tsukauchi nodded his head, ready to hear what he had to say.

"_We need to evacuate the entire area by 11 P.M, 2 days from now. Make sure the reasoning is a potential villain attack. Luckily it's nowhere near any residences, but people still travel through there. We don't want any casualties."_

All Might told him the location, and Tsukauchi nodded, knowing exactly where that was.

"I'll get on it as soon as I can."

"_Thank you for this, Tsukauchi."_

"Anything to help. And All Might?"

"_Yeah?"_

"Make sure to put him down. For good this time."

"_Definitely."_ All Might declared with certainty in his voice as he hung up the phone. Tsukauchi walked out of the room, running his hands through his hair, and thinking over what he had just heard.

Two days from now. That would be a night to remember.

* * *

**A/N I'm really shaky about that whole All Might interaction thing. I definitely didn't get their characters down as well as I should have, but there is a reason for that. The whole experience with AFO changed him. Right now, he's at his peak, without the injury that he dealt him. He may have a bit of an ego, and external factors are the only thing that can affect him. Rage being most prevalent.**

**I know that some people might be upset with the pacing being way too slow, but don't worry. It'll start to pick up from now. **

**Toxic Chainsaw in Canon MHA probably didn't work under AFO, but by the way Midoriya talked about him, it was a well-known fight, and he was probably insanely powerful to warrant that kind of reputation. I looked that up on the wiki, I didn't make up that assumption.**

**If I were to be honest, this chapter isn't as great as the other ones. I just wasn't feeling it. But I'll get this out anyway. I might need a little more time to upload the next one, because I need to think some of the plot through properly. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Update 5/13 Okay, this is getting way too out of hand.**

**First of all, I'm alive and well. There's absolutely no need to worry about this story dying, because it's not. I just haven't had the time to actually do things on the internet since forever. As you can see from the AN from the end of Ch 3, my hype for the Quarantine was unreal. Now? School said "fuck you all" to the AP kids and were like "Hah, let's put all the tests within the space of a few days!"**

**I got insanely cucked by this, as you can see. I've had literally 5 finals and 2 AP tests within the past 3 days. As you can see from my profile, the competition is insane, especially now of all time. I needed to study wayyyy too much. Hopefully this explains my absences.**

**Next question: Why didn't I update this on the biweekly schedule like the other few chapters? Simply, I wasn't happy with the quality. I can't write fight scenes for shit, and if I put it out by the time I finished it, people would be like "What the fuck is this shit?" and "Why did you decide this was a good idea to put out?" Now, I'm gonna go on a massive rant. Bear with me.**

**I'm not confident with how my writing of this story is shaping up to be. The quality is really poor, and if this story gains more traction, the more "critics" will come and crack down and destory it and become unhappy with it. I don't want to half-ass shit just to update frequently. If I was following a story, and the quality all of a sudden dropped to shit levels, I would be rightfully dissapointed, and sad to see the story delve into what it is now to what it once was. I don't want to cuck you guys like that, I'm not that kind of person.**

**For those reading this months from now, just read the next chapter and see what I mean. You tell me what you think. For the readers now? Give me a bit, and I'll put it up.**

**Please don't send me PMs saying "You're just another one of the thousands that just quit their stories and leave the readers hanging." I didn't. If you want updates, check my profile, and scroll down to the bottom. I have the word counts there and everything. Thats it from me, hope you have a great rest of the week, and stay safe.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Grind never stops. We are still popping off.**

**Or that's what the old one would have said until the whole break thing happened.**

**If you guys are wondering where I've been and what that was all about, I suggest you read the updated AN on the bottom of the last chapter to get more context. At the end of this chapter I'll go into finer details of what's going to come, to answer all your questions.**

**If you already have read it, please, if you would read the rest of this ****not so great** **chapter and see for yourself if you see why I didn't publish this when I finished writing it. **

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

The passage of time was something of an anomaly to Tanjirou. There were times he would get so invested into something that days or even months would pass in what felt like an instant.

After Urokodaki's training, in which he was told to cut down a massive boulder in order to qualify for the Final Selection of the Demon Slayer Corps, he trained himself for six whole months, repeating every step of his training, every form of Water Breathing until his hands cracked and bled.

That whole time passed by so quickly, it felt like a few days had gone by before he met Sabito and Makomo. A year of his life was spent on that cold, snowy hill in the span of what felt like a few weeks.

Then there were times during battle, which were the origin of his memories at times he didn't want stuck in his mind. Time there was the exact opposite. Regardless if you've been running around everywhere, pumping your legs to no end, and swinging your sword countless amounts of times, only minutes pass.

Even on Mount Natagumo, even during the train incident, the minutes he'd spent immobile and waiting for help had felt like years. Even when fights dwindled down to nothing more than stalling for the dawn, every swing of his blade felt agonizingly slow.

He was currently facing a similar situation, minus the combat. It had been two days since the miniature training session that Ryukyu had held to teach Tanjioru the basics of being a hero.

On the first day, he woke up relatively early, usually before Ryukyu, and brushed his teeth. This certainly was something that was intriguing to him, given that there was this weird thing that they put on the head of the brush. This… toothpaste. The taste of it was something else, for sure. It would take some getting used to.

Afterwards, he would look around the house for things to do, waiting for his current guardian to wake up. Usually it would take an hour or two, and since it was a plentiful amount of time, he decided to use it to get a good training session in. He took up the wakizashi that she had left him the day before and began practicing his breath styles.

When Ryukyu eventually woke up due to the sound coming from outside, he definitely wasn't prepared for what came after, for multiple reasons.

She gave him a major telling off during the middle of training, saying that it wasn't a good idea at all to train as soon as he woke up, without any food or anything. He had to give the body time to relax, and wake up first.

And second, he was apparently very, very loud when he trained early in the morning, and it made a huge racket that probably woke up a lot of the people around them.

She was also not a morning person.

The telling-off continued for about 10 more minutes, which Tanjirou patiently listened through until she finally relented and let him back inside the house. She got some quick food ready, though not before she forced the boy to take a shower, due to the sweat that he worked up.

Even after all of that, he didn't regret that training. He needed every moment he could get, and he was damn well going to use it.

But for now? Looks like he had to relax for a little while longer. Instead of that training he had resigned himself to, he made do with something else, which was, in his opinion, equally as necessary.

A long soak in a hot bathtub.

He needed this once in a while. After everything he had gone through, it made sense. He had only experienced this luxury a few times before. Now, it seemed like he could have it every day. Whenever he wanted.

Definite win in his book.

Following the bath and a small breakfast, he had hours of time to kill to do whatever he felt like doing (except training, Ryukyu was pretty adamant on that). He spent that time fiddling with certain things that were considered "common household appliances".

Why was she not fazed by the tens and hundreds of buttons that littered across everything and anything, he wasn't sure. To him, she was pressing buttons at random, and different things were coming on the screen. He tried to emulate that, by pressing the buttons he thought he had seen her press to try to get the screen in front of him to function.

Easier said than done. He spent an hour trying to read the immensely small text on the buttons on the television remote. He didn't even know how to turn it on, much less what those buttons do!

He kept on pressing random buttons to see which one did what, and he eventually learned that things were powered on by pressing a big red button with a certain symbol that was usually at the top of whatever machine he was using.

Good to know. He had to get used to these types of things if he was going to be living here for now on. They had the ability to make life so much easier, even if they looked like they did the exact opposite, and made his life harder.

Practice makes perfect. No worries.

He would then get a little training done after getting permission reluctantly from Ryukyu, in which he worked on sword swings and increasing his stamina, so he could get used to fighting with a smaller form.

Swinging a sword was different, due to the heights of everyone around him being about a half meter taller than he was used to. He had to compensate for that by including jumping and hitting for high spots, and this meant breaking a few of his habits that he picked up through most of his years. That would also take time.

He and Ryukyu both had pretty much nothing to do by the time noon rolled around, so Tanjirou proposed the idea of going out and exploring more of what the city had to offer. He thoroughly enjoyed the last time they did it, and he was looking forward to learning more about the place he would be living in.

Changing into some clothes and a jacket, Tanjirou and Ryukyu, with her hood pulled up to mask parts of her face, once again ventured out into the city, with the hero introducing the boy to the various wonders (horrors) of the city.

Hundreds of people were bustling around everywhere, and the swarm of bodies obscured most things from view, yet she knew exactly where she was going.

Walking along prominent highways, she pointed out important buildings, what they were, and what purpose they served, just like last time. A lot of them were similar to things that Tanjirou had seen in the villages that he sold his coal in. Clothes makers, tool builders, and more.

There even were a lot of restaurants in various places, where they sold different types of food that came from places all around the world, not just from Japan. They stopped at one for a long overdue lunch, and it was certainly an experience that he would remember for a while.

They continued like that without trouble, with Tanjirou readily absorbing the information. He was, once again, astonished at the capabilities that a city could achieve. No matter how many times he could say it, that wouldn't change. Thinking about the possibilities were one thing, but seeing them firsthand? That wasn't something you could prepare for no matter how much you expected it.

The next day came upon them, and the cycle repeated. Breakfast, training and lunch all went smoothly. Tanjirou would have preferred to keep up with his training for a few more hours, but that was something that Ryukyu wouldn't let him do.

"You're young. Trust me, you might feel like you have all the energy in the world, but if you push yourself too hard, it won't be good. Remember when I told you it's okay to relax once in a while? You don't have to spend every moment training," she had said.

Every moment training? It didn't seem like he was. He knew how to train in moderation. He wasn't Inosuke!

After all, he had first learned how to fight by having real knives flung at him from every direction! He ran over potholes with swords that tried to impale him! He stood under waterfalls for hours on end! Hell, he even climbed across mountains with ledges so thin that when he fell, he had to catch himself with the ends of his nails!

What he was doing now was nothing compared to what he had encountered with Urokodaki, though it was probably best not to mention that to Ryukyu. People here seemed to have different standards of training compared to Urokodaki. He was a bit extreme like that.

And so he stopped for now. Even if he didn't want to, he couldn't just outright refuse her. Not after what she had done for him. She was a hero, after all. It was literally part of her job to do those things. It was probably the right thing to do.

"Okay. I'll relax for a while." He sat back on a chair, with a mug of cold water in his hands. Midsummers here were definitely a lot warmer than he was used to.

Once again, silence enveloped the two of them.

"Since we have nothing to do, Tanjirou, do you want to go and see what the mall is like?" She suddenly sprung a question at him.

"The mall?" He had crossed that building yesterday along with Ryukyu, and that was probably the most people he had ever seen at one spot. Apparently it was a place that had everything and anything. Food stalls, stores, and even games. He was never one to be interested in playing around with games, but he wondered what that would be like.

"Yeah. That place with tons of people. I haven't been there in a while, and you've been working hard lately. It might be a little boring here with nothing but training and a TV, so I figured it would be a good change of pace."

It wasn't a bad idea. Of course, he had all the time left of the day to do so, and he had gotten his training in. Maybe this would be a good way to get some relaxation in. Plus, if she wanted to do it, why would he refuse it? Not to mention he was quite curious to see the things that would be there.

"I don't mind at all," was all that he could reply. Oh how he would come to regret that.

* * *

And thus, he was now in his current situation.

Being indoors this time, he was roaming along long hallways of what he now knew as a mall. The mall. He needed to remember that. Needed to file it in his brain as the single most terrifying thing he had ever bore witness to.

So many things shattered, he couldn't even count them all. His eardrums? His eyesight? His spirit? Where did he even begin?

As soon as he entered, his ears were bombarded with noise that felt like the equivalent of the massive blast from the villain attack a few days ago. Lights poured out from the translucent dome-like rooftop, ambushing his retinas, forcing his eyes shut. He instantly brought his hands up to his ears to try to block out the sound still assaulting them.

He didn't want to go any further. He wanted to turn around. He wasn't good around large crowds of people, and he had really bad experiences with them. Out of all the times we passed through areas like this, something always went wrong. He saw Muzan, the progenitor of Demons of all of them, in the one time he went to the heart of Tokyo.

His ears eventually got used to the constant loud noise, and he was able to walk through just fine, except for one thought that kept crossing his mind.

_Why? Just why? How do people do this? How do people think this is any sort of normal?_

The boy lamented the whole way, yet deep inside, who was he to talk? Usually, the existence of demons itself was abnormal. If someone came around, yelling around that demons existed and they were man-eating creatures, they would be laughed at and be called crazy. Yet that was his normal.

What was normal, and what wasn't? Tanjirou felt that was a question that would last a long time.

They spent quite a bit of time there, visiting various places and doing different things. There was a pretty large section of the mall that was designated to something called an "arcade", where there were different types of games that kids around his age seemingly enjoyed.

He really didn't see what was so interesting about it. The concepts in and of itself were interesting the first time he looked at them, but he couldn't find the same energy as the other kids had to keep at it. Though he certainly could appreciate how they managed to fit something so intricate in a box that size.

After exhausting all of the coins that they had gotten, they exited the arcade and made their way to some other sections of the mall.

"Where was it, where was it? It should be here somewhere…" Ryukyu was muttering something under her breath, trying to pinpoint a certain location out of the dozens of shops and food vendors that were in their immediate vision.

"What are you looking for?" He asked lightly. What she was looking for, Tanjirou couldn't tell. All he did was follow her around until her eyes lit up, finally spotting the place she had been looking for.

"Ah, there it is!" She dragged Tanjirou over to a section of the mall in a manner not unlike a child. Tanjirou coudn't see in front of her rather tall frame, so he had no idea where he was headed.

"Ryukyu-san, where are we even going?"

"We're going over to this ice cream shop. There's no such thing as coming here and leaving without a cup."

Ice cream? It certainly sounded interesting…. but what exactly was it?

Standing in the decently long line gave him his answers soon enough. It seemed to be some kind of food, or dessert in a way. The board on top of the shop detailed many "flavors" that they sold, much like the udon stands back home had. At least this was something that he could understand.

Next to him, Ryukyu didn't seem to be eying the menu at all. All she did was look down at Tanjirou, and ask him a question.

"Have you ever had ice cream before?"

He shook his head. "We didn't have anything back at home to freeze things, so we couldn't get such things like ice."

She looked surprised at that. Was it that well-known?

"That sucks. Well, this is a good opportunity to try it. In my opinion, it's one of the best things I've ever eaten. You really need to try it." That was a pretty high regard to put it in.

His interest was getting raised bit by bit as he advanced through the line. They made it all the way to the front of the line, where there were many different colors of what they considered "ice cream" layered out in front of him.

"Well, which one do you want?" Ryukyu asked from his side, pointing to the various ice cream.

If he were to be honest, he didn't really care which flavor he got. He looked through the menu, and couldn't recognize any of the flavors except chocolate, which was considered a luxury food in Japan, and something that he never got to try.

"I'm fine with whichever flavor you choose," was all he replied with. He preferred to leave that to someone who knew which ones were the better flavors, and besides, he wasn't that picky of an eater anyway.

"Okay then. Two scoops of the cotton candy flavor, please." She turned to the man behind the counter and told him their orders.

"Coming right up, miss!" He took two scoops, placed them in cups, and handed it to them. Ryukyu placed some yen on the table, already knowing the price given how much she frequents the ice cream shop, and took the ice cream, giving one to Tanjirou.

"Here, take it," she told him, holding the cup out in front of him. "And be careful not to drop it, it's really cold at first."

As they exited the line, he rubbed his fingers against each other, and gingerly took hold of the cup, heeding her warning. Even then, as soon as he touched it, his hands nearly leapt in the air again.

_Cold! _

The only thought his mind registered was the sharp sensation seeping through his fingers, preventing them from moving. Good thing they couldn't move, otherwise it probably would have dropped.

Nevertheless, he dug his spoon in, and put a generous amount in his mouth. Once again, the coldness of it overtook his mouth, but the flavor…. wasn't all that bad. No, it was actually really good!

It tasted like something that he never actually tasted before, so he assumed that was what this "cotton candy" tasted. Otherwise, all that there was to it was that coldness, which was easy to swallow down. He then took another spoonful and put it in his mouth, and swallowed it down. He was going to try to finish it as fast as he could, but then…

A sensation overcame him that he had never felt before. It was like a sharp pain in the back of his head that stopped his trail of thoughts temporarily. He let go of the cup with one hand and grabbed his head, hoping to stop the pain, but failing.

"What was that?" He groaned, clearly affected by whatever just happened.

He could hear a Ryukyu laugh. "That's what happens when you eat it too fast. It's called brain freeze, it doesn't feel too great. Cold things generally are better eaten slowly."

Tanjirou stares blankly at the cup once the miniature migraine fades away. "Does that always happen when you eat ice cream?"

She closed her eyes. "Not really. I would have told you beforehand, but I just wanted to see how you would react to it. It didn't disappoint."

Tanjirou kept staring, but he eventually smiled. It reminded him of how Nezuko was before she became a demon. She enjoyed playing harmless pranks on him from time to time, and he would just accept them. It was all in good fun, and it was his duty as the eldest to laugh along with them.

"But still, this is very good. Thank you for getting me this." He felt a little bad for just complaining about something without showing gratitude.

She opened an eye and looked at him. "Yeah."

They walked for a little while further until they reached the exit.

"Did I ever tell you that you act way too much like an adult at times?" Ryukyu asked out of nowhere.

Tanjirou looked up in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

She elaborated as they exited the mall. "It's fine to let yourself relax. There's not a need to be all proper all the time, just let yourself live a little."

Tanjirou didn't say anything to that. He just kept silent, and was thinking it over. He didn't understand. What about him was overly proper? He was just acting as he normally would.

He threw his cup away at a nearby trash can, and put his hands in his pockets to warm them up again. There were a lot less people during this time of day now, and he was easily able to locate Ryukyu.

"Well, don't worry about that. It's still better than acting all immature all the time. Less of a hassle."

"Why would I purposely be a bother to someone when I could just act normally? Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Her logic really wasn't making sense to him.

"It is, but you normally wouldn't see that in most kids. Trust me, you're way different from them."

Tanjirou was about to respond, but something caught his eye above him. Was that… something black on the rooftop to the side? Was that supposed to be there? It looked like it had a vaguely humanoid shape, but why would it be there?

"Kids these days tend to act a little spoiled in a way. Always demanding things, and never being satisfied. I guess I have to admit at first, I kind of expected you to be the same at first. But then-"

"Ryukyu-san," he interrupted in the middle of her monologue, "what is that person up there doing?"

"What do you mean, what thing…" she trailed off as she saw what he was pointing at.

"Hmm…." She looked up towards the rooftop. To her, it looked like a person in jet black, rather broad for a regular-sized person without a mutation quirk. Was it a hero just surveying the people down here?

She had never heard of one that dressed like that, but she was only a few months in the job. She couldn't have known all the heroes that existed in Japan.

"I'm not sure, though it's probably a hero just on patrol, though why would it be on the roof, I have no idea. Well, I do that a lot too, so I can't really talk."

They kept walking down, heading somewhere that Tanjirou wasn't sure.

"So where are we going now?" He changed the subject without too much effort.

She shrugged. "I don't know. There are many places we can go, but it's your choice. We could just go…."

Tanjirou was looking up at her, and he saw her facial expression shift. She was still staring at the thing on the roof, and her eyes instantly narrowed, and her face shifted into one that he knew all too well. "What is he doing?" She muttered aloud, soft but enough for Tanjirou to pick up.

He had seen it on many faces before. Giyuu, Inosuke, hell even Zenitsu at one point. Every time they went into battle, their faces mirrored into what he was seeing now.

"Is there something there?" He looked towards the rooftops once more, and breathed in, trying to smell any dangers nearby. Besides the many people that were around them, he couldn't detect any direct hostile intent coming from anybody. So why…?

Then he saw it. Looking back on the rooftop of the mall, the figure that was once there was no longer there. His eyes trailing down, he saw it in his peripheral vision. It had jumped, and was falling, and falling, and falling…..

"Tanjirou, get back and run from here, that's not a hero," she ordered him as she took off her jacket and dropped it on the floor.

His feet were still rooted to the ground as she dashed forward towards the falling man, and yelled out for everyone to hear.

"EVERYBODY GET BAC-"

She couldn't finish. Or didn't make it in time. The ground exploded beneath them, creating a force of wind that drove everyone in the vicinity back, and off of their feet. People fell flat on their bottoms on the floor as dust was picked up on the air, swirling in the wind to obscure their vision.

Luckily, Ryukyu was in front of Tanjirou when he had hit, and unintentionally shielded him from the impact. Not like it would have mattered. Tanjirou ran next to Ryukyu as the wind cleared. They both got a close-up view of the one on the rooftop.

Dressed in a black type of body armor like she had expected, the man was relatively unarmed by the blast. He had one fist on the ground, almost in a comic-like fashion that would have been considered corny if it wasn't for the fact that it made a large crater in the ground beneath him. His face was in full display, with a somewhat of a grouchy look, with a loosely trimmed mustache and a fully covered beard. Her mind connected it to one of those actors that played kingpins in the movies that kids loved so much.

The main thing that stood out was his size. It wasn't that of a regular human. If he stood upright, he would tower over everyone. He estimated he was about twice, or three times the size of an adult male.

This was obviously no regular civilian, that much they both knew. And a hero definitely wouldn't do something so blatantly pointless like this. That left only one other option left.

"Tanjirou, I told you to run from here. This isn't someone you can deal with." She looked back at him without taking her attention off of the imminent danger.

Too many thoughts were going through his head. Yes, this was a villain, but it wasn't a demon. He could probably take him on if he wanted to, alongside Ryukyu. She didn't have to fight it alone.

Yet the other thought clashed and contradicted against that one. He wasn't in his prime yet. He was weak as of now, and would be a liability if he did choose to ignore Ryukyu and fight. Many of the skills that he had wouldn't be put to the same effectiveness as they used to. He would likely injure himself while doing so.

Besides, she was a hero. She could take this on herself. They were trained to protect others after all.

He turned around and ran away from the scene, something that he felt really uncomfortable doing. He was usually the one that did the charging into things, not the opposite.

"Everyone, get as far away from here as possible! This isn't a safe place to be. I'll handle this in the meantime, try to get to safety!" Ryukyu's hard voice echoed across to the bystanders, catching their attention, pausing them for a couple seconds, and galvanizing into action.

Everyone else he already fled and gathered a distance away, and for some reason they were waiting, some holding up their phones in the hero's direction, hushed whispers going around…..

He scanned his surroundings. A relatively old man was still on the floor, and struggling to get up nearby, and no one seemed to pay him any attention at all. Their eyes were fixed on the scene in front of them.

Tanjirou went over to the old man, and tried to help him out.

"Mister, are you alright? Do you need help getting up?"

The man saw Tanjirou helping him, and grasped his hands. He pulled himself up with the assistance given, and managed to wobble back into a stable position.

"Thank you, young one. You should hurry and find your parents, they will be really worried if they didn't see you were okay here."

Tanjirou didn't even bother to correct him. The man had already left and was well on his way away from there, as fast as his old legs let him go.

Tanjirou ran back to the crowd, which parted slightly to give him space for him to watch in the back. He wasn't just going to leave her there alone, and it wasn't like he could go anywhere else. He didn't know the city well enough to make it back to the house yet.

All he could do is watch to the side as someone else did the fighting….

* * *

Yet another villain stood in front of her, one that literally jumped off of a roof and landed right in front of her.

What was with this shit, seriously? Two days ago her house got attacked, and the day before that, ANOTHER villain decimated the downtown. She was supposed to be on break, watching a little boy, damnit! What was with her shitty luck all the time?

Dragons were supposed to be lucky!

In a way, she was lucky. If an attack happened somewhere else, then hell would have been rained on somewhere else, and casualties would have occurred.

Lucky for others, yet unlucky for her. Great. Well, she was a hero, can't bitch about your job.

_I need to end this as fast as possible. I'm pretty sure not that many heroes come by here during this time of day. Good thing he's a size type. Not sure many people can handle that._

People were watching, too. Especially Tanjirou. Why not give them a show? It was cases like these when she wore custom-made expandable clothing over her jacket, and why she had her metal claw on her.

Her back arched, and her spine sprayed to grow. Her arms and legs increased in height. Claws sprouted out her fingernails, and scales appeared on her sides. She felt her face expand until there was a good distance between her eyes and the end of her nose, which was technically a snout now. She leaned forward and put her arms on the ground so that she was on all fours. A tail and a pie of wings grew out from behind her, until she completed her draconic transformation and was now a good bit larger than the aggressor. The claw in her hand fit snug over her right hand as her size expanded.

The crowd was going wild behind her, she could hear it, but she didn't train in U.A for nothing. She participated in the sports festival, and this was nothing compared to what that was. She tuned out the sound until all she could hear was her own heartbeat and the villain in front of her.

His behavior was for sure strange. By this time, most would have rushed forward by now and used everything to defeat the heroes. That was simply their way of doing things. But he just stood there, and watched her transform.

Fine by her. She would just make the first move herself. Closing the distance between them with one bound, she raised a paw, bent some of the fingers, and thrusted them forward, aiming for a knockout in one blow.

If only it were that easy.

The villain raised one of his gigantic arms to tank the shot, sliding back a bit as he did so. His feet, which were planted in the ground, made foot-sized indents in the ground, going through a straight line.

She followed up yet again with a sweep of a paw, this time faster and stronger than the previous one, which was avoided yet again. He ducked back and let it fly past him, momentum carrying her past him.

She had to admit, that was one hell of a dodge. Was his quirk related to speed? That was a high possibility, though he did show aspects of strength enhancement too. It would also explain his body size. She didn't have enough information to go off of yet, but the villain wasn't exactly being secretive about it either. She could figure out along the way.

It just made it easier on her, and she wasn't going to complain.

The villain struck at the opening, and Ryukyu braced her right arm, absorbing the impact along her scales. The impact sent a miniature shockwave down her arm, jarring it for a couple of seconds. Before he could pull back, she grabbed his forearm, held it tight, and brought it towards her. As she did that, she sent a vicious bodyshot to his abdomen.

It was slow, given that she had her metal claw piece on her hand at the time, and it weighed quite a bit. It slowed her punch down to a point where both of them could see its path quite well, but the villain could do nothing about it due to Ryukyu's insanely tight grip.

**CLANG!**

The metal impacted the villain's stomach, yet instead of impacting skin and sending him flying away, it was stopped dead in its tracks, ringing like a large bell chime.

As if it were made of pure metal.

"What the hell?"

_No way in hell that's anything but a strength quirk._

She hasn't seen anyone, hero or otherwise, be able to withstand a blow with all her weight on it. It was just too powerful to stop. Given his size, it would make a little more sense if it had less of an effect, but it shouldn't have stopped completely. Nothing should have complete resistance, especially against the type of metal her claw-piece was made of.

Good thing is, she now knew what quirk her opponent had. It was some sort of reinforcement type, one that provided enhanced defense and hardening of the body or skin. It may have had potential strength benefits too, but that would have to be tested.

She was kicked away by a large foot to the chest, creating about 15 meters of distance between them, though no damage was done given that she braced for the impact intentionally. They stopped their movement, and stood across from each other, analysing their stances and watching for any signs of aggression. Ryukyu moved a little to the right, given that the sun was in the corner of her eye and was slightly blocking her vision. The villain did the same, evening out the space between them.

Everyone around them watched in anticipation, silence dominating the area. To them, they would never be able to see something like this in person. Witnessing a hero in action was something that people could brag about, they even had the chance to be seen on T.V.

The villain suddenly jumped, and she noted how the ground cracked when she did so. He extended his leg, aiming for a kick to the face. A punch or a kick, it didn't matter. For what she had planned, she needed only one shot that could serve as an opening. This one was shown clear as day.

Her arm raised up, in a position to block the attack. The kick slammed into her palm, sliding her a little to the right and off balance, but that was made up for by her next move. She gripped the limb tightly, keeping him from drawing his foot back.

It was a move that she had seen a few nights back, when Tanjioru charged headfirst into a villain. He had kicked out at the man, but his foot had been grabbed, keeping him from doing anything else, being completely at mercy.

She kicked off the ground, and as she did so, she grabbed the other arm of the villain. She arched her back, spreading her wings in the air and bringing them down. The two of them were lifted off of the ground, violent bursts of wind surrounding them as Ryukyu made her way higher and higher in the air.

One advantage that flight had: it was really hard to fight back against. It wasn't a great feeling, being hoisted off of the ground, and suddenly being weightless. Especially if your limbs were compromised, and you were unable to move your body.

There's nothing you can do against that. All the man could do was try to bend his body forward, and try to pry his legs out of her grasp with his remaining arm.

Like she was going to let that happen.

"It's over now!"

She folded her wings in, allowing herself to fall down to the ground. She started to spin and rotate her body downwards, gaining velocity faster and faster.

Now in a free-fall, gaining momentum and about to crash down to the ground, she braced her legs and arms, ready for the impact, and as she did so, she readied the villain that was currently in her grasp, and threw him down with as much force as she could.

_**BAM!**_

The ground once again exploded beneath them, making a new crater, this one much bigger than the rest of the ones he had seen. A shower of debris fell around them, silencing the crowd that was watching in the distance. Dust obscured the surroundings, rendering everyone unable to see the outcome of what just happened.

The dust cleared, and everyone could see the figure of the Dragon Hero, holding her opponents down from the face, with the one on the floor offering no resistance.

She was prepared for any sudden movements, so she didn't let her grip loosen one bit. She waited, a second, 5 seconds, 10 seconds. No movement.

"Phew, it's done."

She heaved a sigh of relief. That took a lot more out of her than she cared to admit. This one was the one of the longer battles that she had to go through. Whoever this was, he was completely unlike what she had fought before.

She was so used to stopping villains from just one slam of her paw, and she never needed to actually do more than that.

The crowd saw this, and went completely insane. She heavily doubted anyone knew who she actually was, her information as a hero online was incredibly sparse, but to see a hero defeat a seemingly powerful villain that looks as intimidating as this one did was bound to get her fair share of attention.

She didn't care about it either way. The people could cheer all they liked. There was one thing in the crowd she did want to see, however. She looked up and scanned the crowd, looking for a familiar red-headed boy. And lo and behold, towards the very front, she saw him. With a smile on his face.

That enough was enough to warm her heart, and she found herself smiling along with him as well. She finally was able to show him how a true hero should act. Fighting with all they can, and not like she usually had does. She was proud, in a weird way. Proud of herself for actually being able to do something for Tanjirou that she never would have been able to if this didn't happen.

Then, she found herself flying through the air, looking towards the sky.

"What the fu-"

She wasn't even able to think properly. She could no longer feel the villain underneath her palm. Her vision was spinning, and there was a searing pain throughout her arm. Light-headedness consumed her entire being as she found herself tumbling across the ground. Rolling for a few meters before stopping. She turned over, and pushed herself up to look at the one responsible.

_Shit, he's still conscious after that?_

The very same villain she body-slammed was standing, perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened before. The scariest part was, he didn't even look angry at all. No, he was starting to smile. That smile then evolved into full-blown laughter.

"That was impressive, you made me use something that I never thought I needed to use!"

Ryukyu was barely listening, still somewhat disoriented, but she caught the words.

"What do you mean, barely use? What the hell was that, some sort of weapon?"

The man kept chuckling. "Oh no. The mighty hero is getting angry, isn't she? It wouldn't do for the big bad villain to reveal all of his cards, wouldn't it?"

She let out a breath, sighing in resignation. "Figured not. It would be nice, but it doesn't really matter what you have, cause I'll still beat you down regardless."

The villain spread his arms wide. "Oho? And how, do you expect, you'll be able to do that?"

She raised an eyebrow. Cocky much? All that did was tell her that he had something else in his arsenal that he had yet to reveal. Classic villain stereotypes, he doesn't give a shit because he thinks he's going to win.

She dug her feet into the ground, and pushed forward, this time using all the power that she had, regardless of the effect it had on her surroundings. Would she get in trouble for that? Probably not, considering what this dude was capable of.

She rocketed forward, aiming directly towards him. She swung her left paw, which now held her metal piece she switched over from her right, directly at his head.

_How will you dodge this now?_

He jumped over it once again, though this time there was a significant crater in the ground where he stood. She didn't have time to dwell on that as he rocketed forward towards her head, an arm cocked back.

Luckily for her, she had a really long neck that came with her new form. It came in handy a lot more than one would expect. She leaned back as far as she could while still maintaining balance as the fist flashed by her face, and took a step back to right herself. Before gravity could bring him down to the ground, she jumped forward again and smacked him up in the air. If she were to be honest, the dude didn't go too far at all. She jumped from the ground, extended her wings to a low glide, and grabbed him from the air just before hitting the ground. Slamming him to the ground, she continued to glide, dragging him for a distance, then picked him up and viciously backhanded him.

Given the metal piece and how much force she put on it, he went flying. He thudded on the ground many times before rolling over, much like she had at first. Though this time she wouldn't do him the favor of standing around. Reaching him in a few bounds, she aimed to incapacitate, and using all of her force possible to put him down. Using her signature palm slam, she raised her palm, and sent it rocketing down.

_**Crack!**_

"Gah!"

Only for it to rebound again with a sickening crack. She struggled to maintain her footing, eventually regaining it after a few seconds.

She took a few steps back, and gingerly put her weight on both arms. Her mind was reeling. She had completely forgotten about his initial body enhancement, and hitting it so hard felt like she just slammed a god-damned nail. That hurt a lot.

"Strength isn't your quirk, isn't it? There's no way that could have happened otherwise!" She questioned, a hint of accusal in her tone.

"Bravo! It took awhile of tossing me around to finally understand! Though I must confess, I didn't put you in a position to figure it out easily. Well done!" The man cackled loudly as he stood back up on his two feet. "But you aren't fully correct either, you see-"

She didn't let him finish. With a roar, she tore up the already broken foundation in front of her, and flung it towards the villain. What the point of that was, the people were left guessing, though she knew.

If it were some form of redirection, they would fly back at her in broken pieces. If it was his initial hardening, it would shatter like glass. Whichever he chooses, it would lead to the inevitable reveal of his quirk.

It also served as a good distraction.

A good chunk of mass was sent flying to her left, which would be his right. She followed his eyes, marking where he would focus. It was trailing onto the middle, then it started to drift to the left…

She made her move them. She pushed to the right side, and this time, aimed for something different all together, she dashed out underneath at the exact moment the rock was above him. She swept an arm at his knees, specifically at the back joint connecting them. He could try to jump over it, but the rock will crush him, and that does more harm than good. He could try to block the rock, but then that gives her another shot, and a chance to figure out what his true quirk was.

She had almost completed the sweep when everything around the area was blasted away, including her. Wind buffeted around them, and the people in the surroundings covered their hands over their eyes because of the force.

There it was again! Some sort of thing that pushes things out. Like force. It wasn't some sort of reflection quirk, but it allowed him to do that. That didn't explain the hardening though. Maybe it was a subpart of his quirk too? Whatever it was, it was too versatile.

"It seems you've figured it out already, hero," he called over in a mocking tone. "Though it was necessary for me to get out of that, yes, that was my quirk. I can take the energy that is dealt to me, collect it, and redistribute it."

Ryukyu was puzzled. She would have never guessed exactly what that quirk would me, though that was good to know. Why did he tell her that? That was pretty dumb of him to do that.

"Why tell me that?" She asked.

The villain looked at her strangely. "You mean…" He stopped and his body started shaking. "HAHAHA! You didn't even figure that out yet! It seems I overestimated you quite a bit! Your quirk is rather powerful, but you don't have the brains to compensate for it! Simply incredible! Is this what heroes are?"

He was baiting her, it was obvious. He was trying to get her riled up and try to charge at him recklessly, and then take her down that way. It would make sense, considering he thought she was an idiot, but she was thinking her thoughts over. Whatever damage he took, he could redistribute. But clearly it didn't apply to physical injuries, because even she could see he was bruised all over. The more she hit him, the stronger he became.

_Damn, are there any other heroes nearby? I could really use some help here!_

U.A was a school that prioritized education as much as physical, and she thought back to her classes. His energy quirk could be used in too many ways to count. It could strengthen his attacks, use it to propel himself, and potentially harden himself. So many things.

"But unfortunately, you must die, hero. I held back long enough."

_Go ahead, I'm waiting. _

He propelled himself at her, shooting once more like a missile towards the stationary hero. She nimble dodged that one, landing the villain right behind her. Before he could recover, she was on top of him. Now aware of his quirk, she had to be careful to dodge everything that came her way. She couldn't let herself tank any shots, they would hurt like hell.

She first threw a straight jab at his torso to unbalance him. He, of course, tanked the damage using his quirk to harden his body, but realistically, it would take the same amount of energy in order to harden it. If she kept this up and dodged his tracks, he would run out of energy. If he didn't use energy to harden his body and if it ran out, then he would lose.

He threw a right hook, which was dodged as she moved to the right, gusts of wind shooting from his fist as a result of the blow. She rolled down on the ground, folding her wings in to make sure they didn't get crushed, and kicked off the ground from her position. From behind, her hardened tail came in from behind and smashed into his side, unbalancing him. The blow struck the entire side of his body, causing him to fall from the ground.

Getting on top of him and holding him to the ground with a palm, she drew back a fist and sent a glaring blow to the side of his skull. As she expected, it was hardened, but all quirks had their limitations. He was still being affected little by little because of it.

Again and again, she hit him. Twice. Thrice. It almost was comical, like a school bully beating up on a poor, innocent boy. But this time, the one being beaten up wasn't the one that was innocent.

She once again flew up in the air, with the villain dangling from her grasp. With a swift turn to the right, she threw the villain down to the ground. The ground split up again, it was like a repetitive cycle. But she didn't see any other way.

She kept to the air as she waited for the air to clear. Now aware of what he could do, it would be in her best interest to keep a distance for the time being.

Not to mention the fact that she was starting to tire quite a bit from this. Her arms were feeling especially heavy and quivering from all the shots she had to throw, and all the attacks that she tanked. Her breathing was ragged, and she had noticeable injuries on her. It was obvious that she wasn't doing well.

"Is it over?" The civilians toward the side started to speak up.

"I can't see anything…"

"What just happened?"

"That was awesome!"

The muttering of the crowd drew her eyes over to their direction to check if they were still safe. Other than the area around them being completely destroyed, they seemed to be out of the line of danger, though barely.

Sirens wailed in the far distance. She looked behind her to see that there were oncoming police cars, and they were speeding over in their direction.

_About time. I've been making a massive racket for the past 10 minutes and only now the-_

She heard the impact of concrete below her as she swiveled her head into the direction. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to uncover the source of the disturbance.

The air was still filled with powdered debris that it was hard to make out anything. She couldn't tell what had happened from her current position, and the chances were too great that he was going for something else of importance other than her.

She let her wings go still, and she started to fall directly on top of the position where she last chucked the villain. It didn't take long for her to reach the ground, and as she entered the cloud, she found no sign of anyone there.

_What?_

Her stomach tightened in panic. Where did he go? There was no sign of any sort of movement from above! No one can just disappear like that!

She had to take back to the air to search when a sickening pressure entered her gut. The air was driven out of her lungs, and all the strength she had remaining left her. She stumbled back on her legs as she almost deactivated her quirk.

_Where?_

She looked around, but still there was no sign of anyone there.

_Why the hell is this cloud still here? Get out of the way?_

She blew away the cloud with her wings, giving her vision once again. A distance away, she could see people watching, yet they were left unharmed. There was no one in her immediate vicinity, so where the hell could he have been? And how did he manage to strike her like that?

She still felt that something felt very off here. Something was really unnatural, and she felt that it was important, but she couldn't quite place it. It was like there was something around her still that shouldn't be there….

_The air!_

The cloud that she blew away with her wings still floated around her, and it was too thick. There's no way that something could stay in one place for that long.

"Hnrg!"

Once again, that feeling of breathlessness overtook her. Her throat felt like it was constricted. She couldn't draw in any breath, and she felt her strength fading away.

_Shit, I can't transform back! Not yet!_

She almost lost her grip on her quirk, but she powered through it. She felt a pressure on the back of her throat, and she turned around to see that the air, which had taken the shape of a hand, was grabbing on her neck, attempting to choke her.

With a low growl, her tail came up and tried to smack the hand out of the way, but it was stopped dead in its tracks. Another clang, identical to the initial metal-like hardening, caused it to rebound off without taking any damage.

Anger started to bubble from within her. She forced herself around and grabbed the sand-like arm with her own hand, and started to squeeze it, attempting to crush the sand to relieve the pressure. The hardening kept up, rendering her efforts useless.

She started to panic. She couldn't breathe properly, and she could see black spots dancing from the corner of her eyes. She could feel her body shrinking back into human form slowly but surely, and her strength was all but fading.

Before it fully could, she had to try everything that she could. Maybe if she blew away the rest of the sand, she could make the arm disappear?

She put as much force as she could muster in her wings, and blew the sand away. The cloud blew over a little bit, but since her strength was currently restricted, it didn't accomplish much.

She tried using both of her arms to pry it open, but they were slipping and losing their grip, the claws slowly retracting until they disappeared entirely, turning back to human hands.

The rest of her body followed suit, until she was now back to a human. And the hand was still there, now preventing her from moving. She could now breathe, but recovering the strength was a difficult task. The hand now covered about half of her upper body, which was being crushed.

The cloud then started to move. It condensed in front of the hand until it took the shape of a human body, and after losing its transparency, the familiar body of the villain was holding her.

"It's sad, it's sad indeed. The hero usually always wins. But in the end, you weren't a hero. There's no use continuing your struggle, nothing can save you now. You died, giving it every ounce of effort. I must commend you for that. And even now, you struggle." He cackled. Was this how she died? After a movie-like monologue?

As much like a movie as it sounded, it was reality. She was powerless. The whole 'plus ultra' thing really was a sham, huh?

"Let me tell you something else, Hero. You thought my quirk was energy?"

She stared at him, with defiance and hatred in her eyes. She didn't respond to him verbally, but his words triggered many thoughts. He did say he could use energy, nothing about this sand thing that he did. So what was that about?

He grinned. "That wasn't my only quirk. The one that I serve gave me multiple quirks. That's why you lost."

She finally broke her state, her eyes widened in surprise. Multiple quirks! How the hell was that even possible! Everyone has one quirk.

He raised the arm, tightening it, about to crush her windpipe, when startled yells came from the audience. Her eyes flickered over to see what the commotion was, until an endless fear consumed her whole being.

_No. Stop. WHAT ARE YOU DOING! NOT NOW!_

Another being was running over from the side, with a determined look on his face. Approaching with impossible speeds. A certain red-headed boy, a weapon in hand, ready to strike.

* * *

**AN See what I mean? That whole fight scene was edited so much in the span of a month that it was literally NOTHING like the original idea.**

**AND IT'S STILL DOG SHIT! I just uploaded this now because I was tired of all the editing and just want to get on with the story.**

**So I hear the complaints. "Update?" "Dude, are you okay?" "How often does this story update?" Long ass AN time so let's get right into this.**

**I do read the reviews, and I hear the complaints. If you didn't use a guest account, chances are that I replied to you with an answer that I was okay, and that I was almost done with the chapter. I do that whenever there is a review. I respond to it. If you have a question, please, put it on an account that I can message you back on. Otherwise, and I've said this on every chapter's AN, I update the status every frequently on the bottom of my profile, unless I can find a better way of doing it without putting it here. I quite like the profile method.**

**What does it have? It has the word count of where I'm at with the story to give you guys a good idea where I'm at writing it, and the day that I last updated it. Just so you guys know I'm not on my ass doing nothing. It also has my thoughts on what I just wrote and things Iwant to say based on it. Usually it's short one to two sentence rants, but sometimes? Wait, that's never happened. Eh, I'll figure out some cool uses with it some other time.**

**The other question being…. How often do I update this?**

**The previous chapters were updated Biweekly, and this is what I'm trying to aim for. Note: AIM FOR. I may not hit it every two weeks, and it's quite difficult to do given that I try to make every chapter 10K words. I have a friend on this site who can do it weekly though with extremely good quality… so I'd like to think one day I can match his level. With summer rolling around, hopefully I can get some weekly updates.**

**Why was I out? Lots of busy shit, PLUS this fight scene. Made for a short break of me lamenting on my writing skill and trying to fix it at the same time. But this will not happen again and IF I do not update, blast me in the PMs. I swear on this message I will not flame you for it, and I will probably explain the potential absence on my Profile.**

**NOW that that's done, chapter thoughts.**

**What was the main problem with this chapter. Ryukyu's fighting style, and this villain interaction. This isn't natural at all, and it was quite hard to get it down as right as I could. Initially, all I had her do was swing her paw like a windmill, but that's just fucking lazy. In MHA 4x08 (I think it was), she had some pretty precise movements with the Hassaikai member, and she seemed in control of that fight. She lacks a bit here because, well, it's many years before that happens. She ain't as good.**

**Otherwise yeah, I'm done here. Feel free to destroy my ego in the reviews, and I'll try to not get my feelings hurt in the meantime. **

**Shit man I'm so done.**


	7. Chapter 6

**There were a few misconceptions in the reviews, so I want to clear that up. The fight last chapter took place directly outside the mall's entrance, not inside. It might have been hidden in the walls of text, but they went outside the mall after the ice cream scene.**

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Tanjirou stood by the sidelines and watched it all. What was supposed to be a day of relaxation turned into one of misfortune, with what was yet another villain attack. It was so sudden, and no one expected something like this until it was too late, and the damage was already done.

Ryukyu, being the only hero in the vicinity, had to be the one to hold it off as many people got to safety as possible. Naturally, she told him to do the same, reluctant as he was to stand idle, but in the end, he did as he was told.

From the crowd of spectators a good distance away from the commotion, he stood, watching as the hero turned into her draconic form, and pummel the intruding villain with as much force as she could muster.

_Her strength is amazing!_

He had never seen anything like it before. Though he knew that she was strong, incredibly so, given their initial spars, to see it in action was a whole other matter altogether.

It isn't often you get to see someone turn into a literal dragon, something he had only heard of from myths and legends, grab oversized villains, and chuck them to the ground full force, making decent-sized craters in the ground, and punching people into oblivion.

It was one of those sights where you nearly forgot the danger you were in, and how close you were to being hurt by collateral damage. In a way, he could understand why people were so content with all of this. They grew up in an environment in which they are taught that the heroes will always win in the end.

This also factored into what Yoriichi had said earlier. So many people wanted to become Heroes, and it was a very popular profession.

Only someone who had gone through the training, the struggle of becoming strong enough to combat evil, or someone who had seen the destruction beforehand, knew that this wasn't the case.

And so he watched as Ryukyu started to lose strength in her attacks. She grew more sluggish, and her whole body was heaving. No one else seemed to notice other than him.

It dwindled down to the end after the final throw by Ryukyu. As a result of it, particles of dirt and sand were showered in the air, obscuring the vision of everyone watching, including his own. The dust itself wasn't the strange thing for him.

It was the fact that it made no sign to dissapear.

Even after a full minute, it was still there. It showed no sign of settling down, and it was so obviously unnatural. His uneasiness was picking up, mostly due to the fact that he couldn't see anything. Though another part of it was telling him that there was something more to it.

He took a deep breath in through his nose, using his heightened sense of smell to pick up some of the scents from around him. Closing his eyes, he filtered through them. The various people behind him. The broken concrete. Ryukyu. The villain he picked up earlier. The dirt and sand in the air.

Wait.

Something was off about the villain's scent. It wasn't the same as it was before, there was definitely something mixed into it. He couldn't describe it, but it was like a mixture of the villain and….

_Sand?_

It wouldn't be that big of a deal if he could smell both at the same time, because he could usually tell the difference between each distinct scent, but there was no difference between the two here.

They were one.

His nose never lied to him. They were one and the same. He double checked, triple checked. There was no denying it.

He utilized his scent to identify what something was, and where they were. Naturally, if their scent reached him, he could also rush to that position, taking the path from where the scent was coming from. It was this that allowed him to finally come face to face with Muzan Kibutsuji for the first time.

Which was why he was sent questioning this now. If the scents of two things were intertwined with one another….

Were they the same?

As he was spinning the thought in his head, the dust finally dispersed around the two. The sight that he was greeted with was one that he had seen many times before, and it was one that he never wished to see again.

The villain had Ryukyu in his clutches by the neck, and the dragon hero's form was shrinking by the second. All the way down until she was back in the form of a regular human.

He could feel his fist clenching, and his body shaking. It reminded him of that time 7 months ago…

On the side of the train where Rengoku had died. He stood at the mercy of Akaza, with a determined look in his eyes. It was the eyes of someone who knew they were going to die, and couldn't do anything to stop it.

He stood on the side that night too, and watched as Akaza plunged his fist into the Hashira, and he only rushed in to help after it was too late.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

He wasn't going to let anyone die like that.

"_Those who risk their lives to fight demons and protect humans are Demon Slayers, no matter what anyone tries to say."_

Kyoujirou Rengoku's final words rang in his ears once more.

"_Live with your chest high."_

He forced his legs to move. He darted forward towards the scene. He couldn't stand being protected all the time.

"_If you get knocked down by your own weakness and cowardice…"_

He picked up a stick-sized like piece of debris coming from a light post nearby, and held it in a two-handed grip as if it were a Nichirin Blade.

"_Flame up your heart, grit your teeth, and move forward!"_

He ignored the cries behind him. He sucked up as much air as his young lungs would allow, and pumped the energy to his legs, increasing his speed to extraordinary levels.

"_Even if you stop in your tracks and cower, you're not gonna stop the flow of time."_

_**Total Concentration Breathing!**_

He kept going. He wasn't going to lose anyone else, rules be damned. He kept a steady rhythm with his breathing, falling back into his usual breathing pattern. The muscles all around his body strained to their limits.

"_If you're a Hashira, it's natural to become the shield of your juniors…"_

_**Dance of the Fire God…**_

"_And next time, you'll all become pillars who will support the Demon Slayers."_

He jumped up from his position, gripped the makeshift weapon in his hand, and spiraled in the air. He raised his two hands, and readied it in the air, in preparation to strike.

"_I believe in you!"_

Tanjirou diverted the energy of his breathing from his legs up to his arms midair, and sent the pole downwards in a brutal arc towards the jawline of the villain.

_**Beneficent Radiance!**_

It smashed with a ringing clang into the villain, forcing his head to the side. The villain, although managing to turn his strengthening quirk on in time, was unprepared for the force of the impact. He flinched, and as a result, he loosened his grip on Ryukyu.

All of a sudden, Tanjirou's vision blurred. Wind was blowing by his face at high speeds, and the only thing he could hear was the whistling in his ears.

His feet left the ground, and he could feel a firm pressure on the nape of his neck. He could feel a presence directly above him, and he looked up to find the familiar figure of the Dragon Hero, once again in her former glory.

'Former Glory' was probably too strong of a word, if someone took a closer look at her. Her whole body was visibly straining to keep her form, and her eyes…. were frighteningly off. They were completely bloodshot, and it seemed like there was water in her eyes from the pain she was in.

Even under this much, she still managed to get words out in an even, yet harsh voice.

"Why did you run in there?" Her voice was a whisper, but it all but screamed anger and worry.

Tanjirou did not hesitate to answer. He knew exactly why he ran in there, and what needed to be done.

"I saw him hold you by the throat… and he was about to kill you…"

She didn't let him finish. "And you thought running in there, and literally smacking him head-on was a good idea? You could have just as easily been instantly killed!" Her reply was swift and without remorse.

He knew her logic was flawed, but even then, he couldn't bring himself to respond. From her perspective, was she wrong? All she thought of him was someone to be protected. Someone who had dreams and aspirations, yet someone who wasn't yet ready to live up to them. In a way, he could understand. If someone ran up to a demon that was giving a Demon Slayer a hard time, what about the person was so special that would let him survive?

The question answered itself. Yes, she was wrong. She didn't know everything about him, and what he's been through. She didn't know what it was like to see someone die right in front of you, and hesitating when it counted most, when you could have been able to do something about it. She didn't know who he was. What he had been able to live through.

She landed on the ground a distance away, and set him down. They were now right behind the crowd of people, most of their attention being fixed on them.

"Don't do something like that again," she ordered. "Stay here, away from the conflict. No matter what's going on in there, do not interfere. It's my job, as a hero, to fight these battles. It's not the job of the people."

She glanced over to where the villain was, and he was still struggling to get up from the hit that she dealt him when she was freed. Her metal claw was lodged in his chest to buy some time, but it seemed like it ran out.

"If you're worried for me, there's no need to be. I'll make it out alive by the end of this." Her assurances did nothing to Tanjirou, as he knew the reality of the situation. If he was in her place, he would have no idea if he were to live to see tomorrow.

He was there quite a few times himself. He could relate. What he couldn't relate to was the calmness in her demeanor. Even while facing danger head-on, he still felt fear. He still felt uncertainty. How did she stay this calm? Why was she so sure of the outcome?

"How are you so sure that you will?" He couldn't help but ask. He had to know.

Ryukyu turned her head around, her red eye looking at him, with a smug grin on her face.

"Because that's what heroes do."

* * *

"_Because that's what heroes do"_

As soon as the words left her mouth, she dashed towards the villain once more with even greater speed than last time.

_I fucked it. Shit. _

It was such a cool line when she said it, but given what she was feeling inside, she probably wouldn't live up to that. If she were to be honest with herself deep down, Tanjirou's interference saved her life. As angry as she was about that, she couldn't deny that.

When she was given that instant of freedom from the villain's clutches, she had taken her metal claw and stabbed it in the abdomen of the villain, and simultaneously with her right, she threw the strongest hook she possibly could at his face before grabbing Tanjirou and whisking him out of there.

She could have sworn she broke something in her arm. Her quirk didn't help matters at all.

She had to strain to the maximum to even regain a portion of the strength that she had. It hurt so much more than she expected it to. Every part of her was so tired, yet she still pushed through.

Was this what 'Plus Ultra' was?

She came down on the villain, and dodging the arm that was thrown out, she grabbed his head, and once again smashed it down into the concrete. She wasn't even thinking rationally at this point. She was fighting with everything she could muster, and on her last fumes. Everything around her felt like it was about to disappear. She couldn't allow there to be anything else around her.

Picking up the villain, she put him in a chokehold. With her left hand on his head, and right arm around his throat, she squeezed. Her head pounded the more pressure she placed on her neck. What gave her the power she had now? Pain? Adrenaline? She had no idea anymore.

But she'll take it.

"Just surrender already, there's no need to make this any longer than it needs to be," she hissed. "The police are on their way, and they're almost here."

She received no response. Instead, the villain started to slip within his grasp as his body started to change. His skin crumbled into small specks of dust once again as his self-proclaimed "second quirk" activated. He turned into a cloud in the air, slipping from her grasp. Her metal claw fell with a clang onto the concrete below.

The gears in her brain started to turn as she took in the situation. He had two quirks, and one of them was turning into a dust cloud. Pretty much all it did was limit vision, and maybe make it hard to breathe. Though there was one thing she had to test.

Could he use both of his quirks at the same time?

Basic common sense said of course not, he doesn't have a physical body, so how could it siphon the energy off of her hits if she couldn't get hit in the first place?

She had learned during her stay in U.A that complete physical transformation quirks took a massive toll on the body. They could only keep it for a set amount of time before they started to lose energy, or they start to have physical repercussions.

Basically her quirk.

They all shared a similar trait, and when interfered with, they shared a similar process. For example, someone with any sort of body-enhancement quirk could only take so many shots before they tire themselves out and are forced to revert back.

Technically this was a transformation quirk, so does the same apply here? The problem with that is she couldn't hit him in any way, and it's main purpose was probably to escape from those physical attacks.

Another thing was that because there was no way to deal any physical damage, he couldn't use his first quirk. That answered that question.

When he first used his dust quirk, she noticed now that the only way that he managed to grab a hold on her was by solidifying fully first. That was further proof that they couldn't use both quirks at the same time.

If that was the case…. then while he was in dust, he was getting weaker and weaker. If she could keep him at dust form….

She could win.

'Plus Ultra'...

Maybe they were on to something.

She reared her wings back, and with all the strength she could put in them, she swung them forward, creating the largest gust of wind she could. The dust around her started to disperse, into the air, granting her slight visibility. Which is all that she needed.

_As I thought. It's not normal dust, it's way too heavy for it to be that. Either it's something else that's a lot heavier than regular dust, or he's doing something to make it heavier._

The energy consumption had to be tremendous either way. It started to make sense why he hadn't used it earlier.

Grabbing her claw and jumping backwards, she flew a few dozen feet in the air, eyeing the dust the whole way. When she was at a suitable height, she readied one wing, and with a slight turn of her torso, she sent a concentrated wave of wind over to the dust's direction.

_Let's see how you can handle this!_

The cloud of dust picked up once more and flew back. As the wind carried it a respectable distance, it started to shake and condensed into one spot. It took a humanoid form until it changed in appearance and color.

_Finally!_

He had a limit to his power. He wasn't all powerful like he could have been if he had total mastery and control over their powers. Luckily for her and everyone here, that was what Heroes and U.A do.

They produce heroes of the highest caliber, ones with complete control, and ones that will live up to the name of a hero to their last breath.

Actually, no. That sounded so much better in her head.

_Damnit Ryuko, not now!_

Focusing her attention back to the more pressing matter, she flew over and above the villain. She could see the wound still on the villain, and that made him struggle to get up. She didn't like wounding others to that extent, but in this case, there was nothing else she could have done.

It brought on the positives that one: a lot of his energy would be sapped from his immune system trying to do the best it can to stabilize the wound. Since his quirk, from his direct words, relied on energy, it should make it much less effective. Added on to his lack of energy from the dust quirk, he shouldn't have enough energy to harden his body to block the attack.

Which means she could finally use one of her Ultimate Moves that she made from U.A.

Normally she didn't like the whole "Ultimate Move" thing. They made you come up with some corny shout and a name like it was some comic book, and in her mind that was just overall cringe.

But she could agree with the concept. Every hero needed some sort of move that they could use to finish the deal in long and hard battles, and something that could get you out of a pinch. Something that let you sweep the tides in her favor.

With her quirk, it was quite difficult, given that every move she did did the same thing, no matter what happened. She could slam things, fly, and that was basically most of what her quirk enabled.

She combined those two aspects and called it an Ultimate Move, which was accepted mainly given the power that it managed to generate. She never thought she would use it, because it was so ridiculous in her mind, but now, she realized why they stressed so much on it.

For battles like these.

She bent one wing forward, and let gravity carry her down. At the same time, she rotated her torso to get into a circular motion. Over and over again she turned, gaining momentum while staying in free-fall.

Her quirk would give out soon, she could feel it. She only had enough in her for one more strike. She had to give her all in this.

Muscles strained to their limit were tensed even further. A near broken arm was quivering, and the order to brace sent extremely sharp lightning signals of pain to her brain. She ignored it. She couldn't afford to be blinded by the pain.

_**Draconic…**_

She sent her good arm forward right before it was about to hit the ground to maximize the effectiveness. She grit her teeth, prepared for the inevitable wave of pain to wash over her.

_**Smash!**_

The result was deafening.

The force spread along a massive radius and shattered the windows of the buildings around it. Everyone in a large radius was knocked off of their feet, and their ears ringing. Cars flipped twice, thrice over.

Ryukyu's form gave way as soon as she impacted the ground. The pain was surreal, she never felt anything like it before. She couldn't even register the impact that she gave to the villain on the floor. All she knew was that she couldn't go on any further, even if her life depended on it.

_Please be done, please be done…_

She kept repeating that mantra over and over. No way in hell was she going to take some sort of asspull new trick that the villain had under their sleeve. She was so done. That was her strongest move. If that didn't work, then who the hell had a chance?

Opening her eyes, she noticed she was laying limp on the floor. She went to push herself off of the floor, only for an extreme amount of pain to lace up her arm.

_Fuck that hurts!_

She flinched and slipped down again. Rolling on her back, she rested her legs up, she pushed off of the front of her back, and landed on her legs, essentially doing a kick-up off the ground.

It took effort just to walk. She trudged over to the unmoving black figure on the floor, and looked him over. There was no sign of any consciousness, but given what happened when he first appeared, she wasn't going to believe looks anymore.

From her peripheral vision, she saw something approach the villain's legs. Shifting her focus over, she saw that particles of dust were rolling their way from the resulting dust cloud over to form the remaining heels of the villain.

Her body sagged with relief. He didn't have his quirk on when she hit, because he was trying to pull his dust quirk to escape it.

She dragged her feet over to his head, and placed a foot on his neck, she shook it a couple of times, and she received no response.

She heaved out a sigh. Today was too long of a day. She had to be grateful for many things. That she lived through today, and she managed to save everyone.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed the cheering that was going on around her.

"Hey, which Hero is that?" A man asked the person next to him.

"Dunno. She isn't wearing a hero uniform, and she isn't someone that I recognize."

"You mean she's just a regular? I mean look at her quirk, it was insanely powerful!" The talking started to spread around, though Ryukyu didn't pay any attention to it. She was mainly focused on the road, where sirens were wailing.

A total of 5 cars and a truck to load the villain pulled over, and the officers inside jumped out of the car and rushed over.

She sported a tired, yet annoyed look. "It took you guys long enough. This was the strongest thing I've faced to date."

The strength in her legs gave away as she collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and promptly passed out.

* * *

The night sky in the modern era was a sight that one couldn't take their eyes off of without an extreme amount of effort. For Tanjirou, it was one that he spared no effort in avoiding. Watching the stars in the sky out of the window of Ryukyu's hospital room forced a sense of calmness over him that pushed back his impending worries.

Ryukyu had been carried off to a hospital after she passed out. The unconscious villain had been detained, and after police gathered other eyewitness reports of possible quirks, events, and otherwise, he had been carried off to one of the higher-end villain holding areas.

He wasn't prepared for how fast news spread, but he wasn't surprised either. With everything he had seen in this era, anyone could show him the most ludicrous thing and chalk it up to some form of machinery, and it would be believable.

This would take some time getting used to.

Word had got out about the unknown hero-in-disguise that had promptly responded to a villain ambush outside the Musutafu mall sect, and recognized her as one of the newer heroes to appear to the Hero scene as of late, the Dragon Hero Ryukyu.

It was something that everyone in the city had been talking about, and it was all over the "news stations". Tanjirou still didn't know how to operate the television, so he couldn't check other channels. Though the one that was on in the hospital lobby had a channel on, in which the people on there had commended her for her bravery.

He was happy for her. She was incredibly brave. Even he wasn't sure of the outcome, and yet she pushed through with everything she had and then some.

He was beginning to respect these heroes more and more. Recalling Ryukyu's words to him hours before, if this is what heroes do…

Then he would be glad to become one.

His eyes locked on the sky, he continued to delve deep in his thoughts, trying to take his mind off of the hero in the hospital bed. Now that he's here, what would he do now? He had his younger body, and had all the knowledge of the Water Breathing, Dance of the Fire God, and he recalled some of the manuscripts of the Flame Breathing from Rengoku's home.

He first had to work on remastering Total Concentration Breathing. That was vital to increase his strength the most. There was just so much difference in between regular breathing and Total Concentration Constant. It set apart so much,

The next thing he had to work on was probably regular body strength. He knew how to regulate his body and training thanks to Sabito and Makomo, so he shouldn't push himself to the brink of shattering his body.

After that, it probably had to be Concurrent Breathing. The mixing of two Breath Styles, integrating one into the other, allowing the techniques of one breath style while using another. To this day, he couldn't recall how he managed to pull it off against Upper Moon 6 Gyutaro.

The uses that it could potentially have were incredible. He could mix the 9th form of Water Breathing into Dance of the Fire God to move on all kinds of places while at the same time keeping his speed from the style he was most suited with.

He heard the rustling of blankets behind him as he broke out his thoughts, and centered his attention behind him. The figure under the blankets sat up on the bed, and tried to rub her eyes open. The bandages on her arms tensed and struggled to move, until she realized that they were encased.

"That…. sucked," she murmured quietly, though loud enough for Tanjirou to pick up. She rested her head back on the hospital bed, and opened her eyes.

"Are you okay?" He kept his voice low in an attempt to not startle Ryukyu.

She looked over in confusion to her left. "Wait, who…" she trailed off as she recognized the young red-headed boy on her bedside. "Oh it's you, Tanjirou."

"Yes."

A soft silence then took over as all they could hear was the rustling of the activities in the hospital's hallways, and the crickets chirping by the open window.

He didn't know what to bring up afterwards. What did he even say? His social ability was at a pretty good level, but conversation starters weren't really his thing. On his journeys, he usually preferred the silence of just walking from one place to another. Though, with the addition of Zenitsu and Inosuke, the chatter never ended.

Though there was one thing he had to address. He just couldn't find the right way to bring it up.

"Ryukyu-san, back at the mall, when I ran inside and struck that villain…" he focused on her face, searching for any signs of emotion. She didn't show any, and just listened to him talk.

He straightened out his face, and it formed into his usual hard, and confident look. "I did that because I saw that you were in trouble, and you were about to get killed. I did it because I didn't want to see someone in trouble in front of me when I could have done something about it."

His parents. His siblings. Rengoku. Shinobu. Everyone that he had failed to save in the past because he wasn't strong enough. He wasn't there sooner to prevent it.

He continued with a steady voice. "I know that you may be angry with me because of that, but I don't regret doing it. I would do it again if it meant to save others."

He took a breath and was about to continue when Ryukyu spoke.

"About that…" Tanjirou was surprised at the smile that appeared on her face. "If you didn't do that, I honestly would have died back there. What you did saved my life. I really can't be angry about that." She let out a slight chuckle. "A bit strange, isn't it? The whole point of Heroes is to keep the people safe and maintain the peace, but this time it was the other way around."

Tanjirou shook his head. "You did that. You saved everyone at that mall. You stopped someone that was extremely powerful. If he were still out there, who knows the type of things he could have done?"

Ryukyu then sat up further in her seat, and continued despite the pain in her ribs. "That's not when I'm trying to get at," she countered sharply. "There should have been no reason for someone to do that in the first place. I was trying to tell you-"

A knock at the door cut off their conversation, and it opened up to reveal the same old doctor that tended to Tanjirou when he landed in the hospital twice.

He stepped in and slowly came to notice what he walked in on. "Oh, was I interrupting something?"

Ryukyu shook her head. "No, not really. We were just talking about some things."

The doctor nodded, and grabbed the clipboard he was carrying under his arm. "Other than some broken bones that have almost healed, you're pretty much good to go. Just make sure to take it easy on your arms for a few days. Keep both arms and chest area bandaged for a few days before taking them off, and don't put any additional pressure. That means no arm exercises or quirk usage centered there until then either."

She nodded. "Yeah, sounds good." She swung her legs off of the bed, and looked down on them. She had a bandage around her left quadricep, which she covered up by pulling down her rolled-up leg sleeved and slipped out of the medical shirt, and took her other jacket off the desk, and put it back on.

"Hero work is going to be a pain when I come back. Even a few days off, paperwork can be a real hassle," she complained, mostly talking to herself.

_Wait, paperwork?_

The doctor chuckled. "Alas, the responsibilities of a Hero come with much struggle. There's a reason why they are so well-respected," he replied.

"Yeah, you can say that again." She stood up, and gingerly tested the weight on her leg. Satisfied, she stood up and walked around a bit. "Wait, was that it? Are we clear to go?"

The doctor looked up from writing on his clipboard. "Yes, there's nothing else to do here. Other than the payment, of course, but I think the Hero's insurance should cover that. I would walk you up to the front, but I assume you do not need assistance?"

"Nope, I'm fine to walk at least." She reached the door, and placed her bandaged arm on the knob. She pulled and exited the room.

Tanjirou got up from his seat from the side, and made to follow the hero, but was stopped when a voice spoke out behind him.

"Kamado-san, may I have a word if you don't mind?" The voice was one devoid of it's usual kindness, and had a strange edge of seriousness to it.

Tanjirou turned to face him, one hand still on the doorknob, giving him his full attention.

"I don't mind," he replied.

"Good. Now, I'm sure you saw the encounter up close for yourself, didn't you?" He shifted his spectacles a little bit down the bridge of his nose to get a better view of the boy in question.

"Yeah. Ryukyu was extremely brave, fighting how she did." He said it many times, and he would say it again.

"Indeed. It was a feat that not many other pros could ever hope to match. That hero has so much more talent than she would ever realize," he continued in response. "However, seeing it firsthand, do you still wish to travel down this path of a hero?"

He didn't understand. The answer was obvious. Of course he was. Ryukyu had saved so many lives, including his own when he first came to this world. Though he felt something was off about the question.

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned.

"There isn't a doubt that Ryukyu has incredible power. Despite that, she came across a foe that was able to match that power and keep her on the ropes for a long while. Analysing the injuries she had when she came in here, that villain…. dear me, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like knowing something like that would be out there," his voice started to lower, and he put a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat.

"You're young, Kamado-san. You still have a long time to make up your mind on what you want to be. But you must know, no matter how powerful your quirk might be, there are dangers out there that not many could imagine." The lecture continued on.

"The life of a hero isn't always sunshine and rainbows, like other kids your age make it out to be. It's filled with dangers that can be devastating if not taken with the utmost caution."

He was well aware of this. Demon Slayers had to face the same sort of caution. Many lives were in the hands of each and every Slayer, and failure to kill even one demon could lead to many other lives lost as a result.

The stakes were obvious to him. He wasn't planning on underestimating the effort it was going to take in order to become a Hero. Today's events were further proof of that.

"Those eyes of yours have seen much more than one should have at such a young age. Yet, life isn't fair sometimes."

He stood from his seat, and approached the door. "The answer does not need to come right now. It could be in a month, in a year, maybe even multiple years. But there are many things to keep in mind while traveling down this path."

He walked past Tanjirou and reached the door, until Tanjirou spoke up.

"Doctor-san," he started off, and the doctor paused. "I understand what you are trying to say. Being a hero wouldn't be easy. There are too many dangers involved, and it's something someone like me wouldn't understand as of now."

Tanjirou looked the doctor in the eye. He was reminded of a talk that he once had with Urokodaki about the evils of the world, and why demons existed in the first place.

"I know that no matter what world we are in, no matter what anyone tries to do about it, the perfect world does not exist. Evil will always be there in one place or another. There is no utopia."

It was an indisputable fact, and Yoriichi himself had explained it. People will always trample over the happiness that others have to satisfy their own desires. This was a core concept of humanity and their trail of thought. Everyone was inherently selfish in their own way.

"It's even more clear in a place with superpowers. Those who have the ability to get what they want over others for their own benefit will use them just because they can. No matter what people try to do to stop it, they keep pushing and pushing."

Demons hunted down Humans for their own desires, and to wipe humanity off of the earth. This was what Muzan Kibutsuji wanted, after all.

"That's why I believe, in a world of superpowers, people with strong quirks like mine have a responsibility. To protect the ones that yearn for that peace. They can have the ability to do what others can't. Why have this power if you aren't going to do anything with it?"

Wasn't this why Yoriichi had sent him here in the first place? To use his power for the good of others? That was his new purpose, after all. To protect the ones that couldn't protect themselves. To maintain as much order as he could in a society, and see as many people as he could smiling, with their families united and happy.

The same principle applied to his own home world. If Demon Slayers didn't exist, there would be so many more families like his. Like Yoriichi's. Cut short and deprived of the happiness they could have had. He remembered all the years he spent living with his parents and siblings. The sheer joy he felt at seeing his family again in Enmu's dream. That happiness was something to protect at all cost.

Heroes had that ability. To protect it. To give people hope. Maybe even bring so many others the happiness they otherwise wouldn't have had.

"That's why I will become a hero. To make sure everyone can keep that happiness. To make sure that no one else ends up the same way everyone around me had." The images of everyone that had fought around him until the bitter end flashed through his mind.

_When I see the smiles of everyone else, it makes me happy. I'm happy to see others happy._

Maybe this was what Yoriichi wanted. Their new purposes aligned, after all.

The doctor smiled. "Wise words indeed, young one. If more were like you, then I would be confident that the world would be kept in safe hands."

He stepped out the door, leaving Tanjirou alone near the door. There wasn't much to think of, after all. He knew the risks. He knew what he had to do. That was all he needed.

He followed the doctor out the open door, and walked down the hallway to where Ryukyu was standing.

"What took you so long?" She asked curiously.

"It was nothing, the doctor just wanted a word with me about something, that's all," he responded. The two continued to walk down the hallway in silence, until they reached the front desk area. Ryukyu talked to the lady up front about something, and Tanjirou just waited up front.

When she was done she walked over to him and they both exited the hospital.

"Finally that's done." She sighed to herself. Tanjirou could see why. The past few days have been extraordinarily hectic. "Alright, now let's go home."

She scanned the parking lot for the car. Only to not see it there.

"Wait a minute…" Her face started to deadpan, and Tanjirou then realized why. The car they came in was still at the mall. Luckily they still had the keys in the jacket pocket, but it would be useless without the car, which was quite a distance away.

"Tanjirou, did you walk all the way here on your own?" She glared at him like a teacher would while lecturing an irresponsible child.

Tanjirou put his hands up. "I didn't know what else to do! I don't know the city that well, and all I did was follow the car that took you here!"

In truth, he followed the scent of the car. It still lingered when it rushed full speed out of there.

"Oh, right." She calmed down and turned back to the road. "Well then, we have quite a bit of walking to do."

It was Tanjirou's turn to sigh. Apparently the bad luck of nighttime followed him over to this world.

* * *

It took a bit to fix his sleep schedule after the events of that day. A normal person would have taken about a week or more for them to even be in a position to be awake at the proper time, but Tanjirou had too much experience in the department of being awake at night that he was an expert at recovering.

What did Ryukyu call it? It was like being jet lagged? That was an interesting term.

They both agreed to not go out for a while, and just rest up like they were supposed to. Especially now that the resident hero was injured. They had been in way too much action that they could handle, and they could use the rest.

Which ended up being a good decision. A day after returning, apparently there was another massive villain attack in a empty part of a city. Nobody could figure out when it happened, or who was fighting there, but the damage was catastrophic, so much greater than at the mall.

Surroundings decimated. Fires everywhere. Roads turned over. It was left in a terrible condition, far worse than the one at the mall, and that was saying something.

Tanjirou spent the rest of the two days afterward focusing on his training. He was heavily tempted to relax, because ever since he came into this world, even months before he 'died' in the Dimensional Fortress, it was just nonstop chaos. The news of all the Upper Moons gathering, and Muzan managing to find Okayata-sama had sent him and his fellow Demon Slayers to fight for many hours on end.

But he knew that any breaks would be harmful in the long run. He had seen the dangers he would have to one day overcome. It went without question he had to get stronger. Much stronger than he was in his prime. That doctor back at the hospital said it himself.

It was a thorny path, and one had to be prepared to give it all and even more if they were to succeed as a hero.

The last day of the week came by, and Tanjirou found himself outside in the backyard once more, wakizashi in hand. For the past few days, he practiced with Total Concentration Breathing and his regular breath styles, and tried to master his Concurrent Breathing to enhance his Hinokami Kagura.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He concentrated hard in front of him, bringing familiar images to the forefront of his mind. All the enemies he had faced. All of the lessons he learned from Urokodaki, Sabito, and all the Hashiras. A ghostly form appeared in front of him, holding a sword. An imaginary enemy.

He took a deep breath, keeping his lungs full and his breathing smooth. He kept his muscles hardened, but his joints loose as to make his movements smoother.

Breath in.

Breathe out.

_**Water Breathing, First Form…**_

He shifted the waki to his side in a two-handed grip, and held it tightly.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

_**Water Surface Slash!**_

Strike. He stepped forward and used his momentum to generate the most powerful slash he could. With his other foot, he jumped in the air, and spun vertically.

_**Second Form, Water Wheel!**_

The imaginary enemy in front of him stepped to the side immediately after. Tanjirou landed neatly on the balls of his feet, and once again shifted his footing. He let go of the grip with his left hand, and concentrated on his breathing. It was going to hurt, but he had to suck it up.

Switch breaths. Exhale. He concentrated inside his lungs, he imagined the fire inside of him, spreading to every muscle in his body, granting him more stamina, more power. It kept his body fueled.

He then took another breath. He maintained the smooth flow of the Water Breathing, while keeping the tightness of the Dance.

The pain blossomed, but he kept it though. He layered one on top of the other, enhancing his movements. The shadow in front of him turned into a familiar sickle-wielding demon.

_**Dance of the Fire God…**_

Could he pull the superior agility of the Water Breathing into his Dance?

The sickles swirled and spread outward under the influence of the Blood Demon Art. It approached from both sides. To his head. Neck. Chest.

_**Burning Bones, Summer Sun!**_

Spinning his sword in a circular motion in front of him, the sickles hit the sword and clattered to the ground, vanishing in thin air. The makeshift Gyutaro in front of him did the same, and his consciousness willed a new enemy in front of him.

The enemy thrusted a fist to the ground in front of him, which tore the ground open underneath him. Tanjirou kept his focus on the speed of the destruction, waiting to jump at the right moment.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

_**Waltz!**_

Dashing forward in front of him. He let loose another flurry of strikes, as fast as his body would allow. The demon was relentless, though he expected nothing less. This specific Upper Moon prided himself on his strength, and expected nothing less from his enemy.

Blows to the chest, head, arms, every dirty tactic was thrown at him. Reminiscent of an old art style that probably existed, they were flawlessly performed.

_**Parhelion Rainbow!**_

He had to do the same. Master the Dance. This was the only way he was to survive. Now and in the future.

He stepped over the cracks, avoiding them with jumps, twists, and turns, confusing the enemy by creating as many afterimages as he could.

"I expected more from you…" the voice spoke out to him, as a white fist from the side came to strike his heart, in the exact same place it had struck Rengoku.

"Tanjirou." Before it could hit, his eyes shot open. He was once again greeted to the sun's light, and something else.

A fence. More specifically a wood fence right in front of his face.

And Parhelion Rainbow wasn't exactly the most stationary attack.

_**SMACK!**_

"Gah!" His head bounced off the wooden pillars and his body was thrown back towards the hard concrete.

It didn't hurt, his head was notoriously hard for it to, but he certainly was surprised. Was he that deep into his subconscious that he had no idea where he was going?

His clothes were damp, and sticking onto the sweat like glue. He probably overdid it again.

_Best try to go back inside before Ryukyu-san finds out. She can be pretty scary._

Picking up his waki, he made his way inside the house. In the short stay here, he was surprisingly familiar with the house. Despite it's modern structure he still couldn't understand how it worked, he could not deny how convenient everything was.

It was a shame that today would be his last day here. It had completely escaped his mind until today that he was only supposed to be here for a week's worth of time until he would have to find his own place, or something else. The detective from earlier, Tsukauchi, did mention something else would happen, but didn't tell him any specifics.

Maybe Ryukyu knew? He would probably ask her later. For now? He was going to take his much needed soak while he still could.

* * *

If you had told Ryuko Tatsuma a few weeks earlier that she would be harboring thoughts like these, she would have called you crazy. She would have said it was impossible, and maybe something along the lines of "how the hell could that even happen?"

But here she was, laying in her bed, deep in thought. Her usual monotone life of a hero had been broken apart by one decision of hers. To save a boy that charged headfirst at a villain. Why someone would do that, she didn't know. However, with him being placed under care for a "probation" for accidentally breaking the law as a minor turned out to be so much more complicated than it should have been.

She now knew so much more about the boy. Tanjirou Kamado. Quirk: Breathing. Allowed him to strengthen every part of his body by simply breathing a certain way. It was a simple thing that was necessary for every human being, and a strength boost like the one he was capable of? Damn, it was an amazing quirk.

He had a family of his own while he was young, where he lived with his parents and siblings outside of regular civilization. They were so disconnected from any form of society that there wasn't a sign of any blood relatives in the database. He had no clue about the varied commodities that were used in everyday lives. Cars. Trains. Houses. Electronics.

However one day, he had left his home to do something, and his entire family had been killed. By a villain. He saw this, and saw his sister alive. He tried to find a hero nearby and save her, and he did, but the hero cruelty shut him down. Told him that if he were strong, then his family wouldn't have died. In her opinion, that was the opposite of what a hero should have said.

A little while after that, he left his home, and travelled on his own for a while. There, he had met an old man, who he lived with for the space of a year, and had taught him swordsmanship to help him survive.

Tanjirou didn't mention what happened after then, but he ended up in the city. In the middle of a villain attack years later.

He had been through so much pain, so much loss, far greater than any person should have even in their entire lifetime. But despite that fact, he was the kindest and sweetest boy you could have met. He could have been rightfully angry at the heroes for how they wronged him and his family, yet he looked up to them.

He could have rightfully held hatred and envy for every other kid like him, who had something that had been taken away from him without a second thought, yet he treated everyone with the utmost respect.

He never asked for anything he didn't need, and he always kept the desires of others above his own. He had all the characteristics of a true hero in him, and he was just such a kind, and sweet young boy. What was there to not like about him?

It would truly be a shame to see him go. She really wished she could have spent more time with someone like that.

After this was done, he would likely go to a foster home in which another family would take him in…

Her brain finally managed to catch up to her thoughts and realized where this was headed.

_Foster home? Shit… this isn't good._

She had a friend back in middle school who grew up in a foster home. She went from one of the brightest girls to looking completely miserable, and she constantly ranted about how she hated her adoptive parents. They had always put her down for the worst things, and worst of all, they shut down her dream of becoming a hero without a second thought.

Despite the cruelness that she was shown, those parents never did anything illegal to warrant the loss of custody. She ended up living through that environment for years on end, until she started coming to school less and less, until a point where she never saw her again.

That's when she realized the foster system was, for a lack of a better word, shit. It wasn't a good place to send kids, the only thing it accomplished was having their dreams crushed. She had done the research one time, and so many similar cases had come up online. Abusive parents. Anger management issues. The list went on.

That was the last thing she wanted for Tanjirou. She didn't want to see such a sweet kid with such a bright future ahead of him to be broken down like her close friend, and so many people had seen, either online or in her time as a hero.

But what could she do about it?

She had no means of determining who he ended up with in the end. That was all in the hands of the police, or the child services, whatever it was called, but certainly not hers.

It wasn't like she could do anything else for him…

Hold up.

_Hooooold the fuck up I have an idea… a terrible idea._

It was an absolutely terrible idea. She tried to get the idea out of her head. Banish the thought. Forget that thought even existed. But the more she tried, the more that idea made sense in her head.

What if she were the one to take in Tanjirou?

Nope, never mind. Terrible idea. She was a Hero. She was pretty sure she couldn't make the time to do her hero work and raise a kid at the same time!

It was like two parts of her mind were fighting each other.

She couldn't have the time to raise a kid? The kid didn't need raising, he was more responsible than some adults! He could be fine on his own!

Did the kid even want that option? Well, why not ask him yourself?

Oh, right.

She had no idea what Tanjirou wanted. Was he perfectly content with the foster system? Did he even know about it?

Wait. That was the whole point of this whole idea in the first place. To avoid the foster system.

But was that it? Was there some other ulterior motive? Deep down, she knew what that was. In the time he had been under her care, she had wronged him herself. Multiple times.

When the shadow villain attacked. She failed to protect him, and made him fight a villain himself. One that was specifically targeting her. He was put in danger because of her.

And during the mall as well. He put his own life at risk to save her own. She felt like she owed him something in exchange.

Welp. This thought wasn't going anywhere. They only had a day left together. Might as well ask now rather than later. If he ends up being cool with it, she probably had to do an absolute shit ton of paperwork.

Good old paperwork.

Fuck.

She went downstairs to get a quick dinner ready, and she heard the door open from the shower room, and footsteps coming down the stairs. Tanjirou, hair covered by a towel, fully clothed, appeared at the end, and saw her in the kitchen.

"Oh, you're getting dinner ready?" He asked.

"Yeah. It'll be in a bit."

"Do you mind if I help a little?" There he goes again. He helps everyone and anyone.

"There isn't much left. Thanks for the offer, though," she told him.

Damn, this was getting awkward.

"Alright. Call me if you need anything." He walked back up the stairs, probably to get that book he liked reading.

'_Call him if I need anything?' I'm supposed to be the adult here dammit!"_

Their dinner was quiet, as usual, and they were once more lounging on the sofa, with the TV turned on. Tanjirou was still trying to figure out how it worked, though he was getting a little better. Ryukyu scrolled through the Hero Network on her phone, looking at the recent news that's been going on.

"Ah. That's what it does." Tanjirou's voice made her look up to the T.V. It showed a screen where it displayed all the past shows that Ryukyu had recorded.

When would be a good time to bring up the topic? Things were super awkward right now! How was she just gonna say 'wanna be adopted by some random woman you've only known for a week'?

This was gonna be a lot harder than she thought.

"Ryukyu-san, do you know what's going to happen tomorrow, when we go and see Tsukauchi-san?" She was saved. Perfect.

So he didn't know what was going to happen. Cool. Now try to make this as smooth as possible.

"Well, what they usually do for someone who doesn't have any blood relatives to take them in is they put him or her in what's called a Foster Care System, or they put them in an orphanage. Foster Care means that a family will end up taking in the kid, and they live their lives with them until they're an adult. An orphanage is somewhat similar, but there's a ton of kids under the care of a few adults there. Tsukauchi would probably put you in one of those," she explained.

"Oh. So I get to live with another family?" He questioned. How was he able to say that so nonchalantly?

She shifted in her seat a little. "Well, if that's what they decide, then yes," she answered. Damn, how was she supposed to bring this up?

Tanjirou was nodding at the answer. Oh no. This was bad. He already thinks it's a good idea. No. No it's not. Crap.

"Tanjirou, I need to tell you something important." Nope, bad start. Crap, how did she backtrack? Control Z, please!

"Yeah, what is it?" His attention was focused on her now. Well. Now or never.

"If I were to be honest, the foster care system… it's not that great," she started off. Yes. Keep going, Ryuko. "Most people would expect for it to go like this: A nice group of people take you into their family. They live happily ever after with their new family. In truth, it's not like that. The people don't treat kids well there."

She took a deep breath. Her voice was starting to turn shaky. "One of my friends many years ago was adopted by one, and it didn't turn out good," she continued. "She was constantly put down by her parents, and she was raised in a terrible environment. They shut down her dream of becoming a Hero. She changed so much in the end, from a lively girl to just downright depressed."

Tanjirou was looking at her with some sympathy in his eyes. "I never saw her again after some time. To this day, I have no idea what happened to her. A part of me is telling me to look somewhere, another is telling me I don't want to find out."

She finally was able to look Tanjirou in the eye. "Which is why I don't want you to go there. I have no idea what's going to happen, and it's a massive gamble. There's a high chance it might turn out bad."

Getting closer. Just ask him the damn question! Was it really that hard?

"What do you think I should do then?" He asked. "I would be fine in whatever living environment I get. If it's as bad as you describe, then I could go back to living on my own…"

She shot it down. "No. I don't think Tsukauchi would allow that. Living on your own is dangerous, and he wouldn't let that happen to someone. Besides, I have another option I wanted to ask you about. I'm not sure how you will feel about this, but in the end it's completely up to you."

Tanjirou nodded, ready for whatever was coming.

"How would you like living here with me instead?"

* * *

Whatever Tanjirou imagined Ryukyu was going to ask, it certainly was for damn sure not what just came out of her mouth.

His face was full of surprise and shock. Adopted by Ryukyu? It was a possibility he had put absolutely no thought into. When she rambled about this Foster Care system being horrible, he took it without too much issue. Hard things in life sometimes shaped a man, and people couldn't help from acting a tad bit harsh on the outside.

Giyuu, Sanemi, Genya, Iguro, and even Inosuke hadn't been the kindest of people when they first met. But, spending more and more time with them and getting to know them, he was able to see the good shining in them.

He truly believed that everyone had a capacity to become 'good', no matter who they are and how they act.

However, this? His mind was reeling. Of course he didn't have any problems with Ryukyu as a person, but..

"Is that even allowed?" He managed to get his mouth moving after a few seconds.

Ryukyu closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, should be. Anyone can legally 'adopt' a kid with the proper paperwork. It might be looked down upon in the Hero community, but I don't mind that. I just have to tell Tsukauchi what I'm going to do, but I figured I would ask you before I do anything."

"I…" for the first time in a while, he was lost for words. "I don't know what to say…" he trailed off.

"I know this might be a lot to take in, but this is your life. You should get to choose what you want to do with it. You can say no to it, by all means. Do what you want to do, and what you feel is best. I'm just putting this offer out there," she elaborated, her voice calming his state of mind if only by a little bit.

Thinking about it more, Tanjirou really couldn't find any reason to say no. If he was going to become a hero, what better way to do that then to live directly under a hero? He certainly wasn't against it.

Besides, the week so far hasn't been bad at all. He found himself greatly enjoying the benefits of this new world, and the added company it brought with it. If this was going to continue…

Who was he to complain?

He already knew his answer.

* * *

A bead of sweat travelled down Tanjirou's head as the sun shone through the car window. The leather beneath him was steaming, but, being through much worse, it didn't bother him all too much.

Ryukyu had to look up paperwork for the rest of the night after he had given his answer. Something that she had complained about for the rest of the car ride to the police station.

She told him to wait in the car until she managed to get the whole adoption thing legally set up. They made it so that Tanjirou could get to keep his current surname, because he didn't want to forget about his actual family back in his home world. They had done so much for him, and he could never forget something like that. Family wasn't just something he could erase.

It took quite a bit of time, until the doors opened, and lo and behold, the Dragon Hero came stepping out of the station, with an empty folder, a smile on her face, and a skip in her step.

She opened the doors of her car, and quickly closed them, flipping on the AC instantly.

"How did it go?" Tanjirou asked. She had told him to be prepared for any weird things that might have happened, and it might be a while because she had no idea what to expect.

"It went better than I thought it would. Tsukauchi asked why I would do such a thing, and I told him all the reasons. Apparently I saved him from doing a mountain's worth of paperwork, so he had me to thank for that. And now, it's all done," she ranted off. It was quite obvious she was exhausted and just wanted some sleep after the previous night's ordeal.

She really loved her sleep, didn't she?

After a drive home in which Tanjirou was certain she might have broken some speed limits (he knew what those were now), he opened the door to the home that he was now to live in for the duration of some years now.

It was technically his own home now.

A home. Something that he hadn't had the luxury of having since he first became a Demon Slayer. What was the closest thing to home? Urokodaki's cabin? The Butterfly estate? He didn't know.

He stepped inside, eager to escape the searing heat of summer, but stopped when Ryukyu spoke up from behind him.

"Well, since I guess we're legally family now, I kind of want to say this." She walked up behind him, and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome home, Tanjirou."

* * *

**2 days earlier**

_A pity. Truly, it was._

The Symbol of Evil lay down, unable to move or speak, in a secluded room. Unmonitored, and unknown to the masses, he had turned on every form of regeneration quirk he could muster. It was a shame he had nothing potent enough to heal him of his damages. The current holder of One for All must have been in a similar state to his.

He was barely able to recall his most recent fight against the eight holder. He had been powerful, certainly more powerful than his predecessor. He was amazed at what his brother's quirk was capable of, all these years later.

_As the saying goes, every hero needs a villain._

They landed critical blows against each other, in the same instant, in the same place. Most of his inner organs had shattered. It was truly a miracle he was alive afterward. It was the closest he has ever reached to certain death.

Alas, even if you could have all the quirks you can dream of, true invincibility was never a possibility.

His thoughts drifted to his two henchmen that he had trained, Toxic Chainsaw and Voltage Sandstorm. He had made them tools for him in this generation, to possibly avoid the inevitable fight against One For All. Toxic Chainsaw lasted a decent fight against the user, All Might, was his name. However, the most surprising to him was that Voltage Sandstorm was able to be defeated by a somewhat unknown hero!

_I had such high hopes for them. As expected of One For All. You truly found someone worthy, Nana Shimura._

He let out an inaudible sigh. Things were getting interesting, though not in a way he had expected it to turn out.

_I've gotten careless. Nevertheless…_

He opened his one good eye out, scanning the darkness to where he knew society was residing.

_Let us observe. How can society last with a damaged Symbol of Peace?_

It would be interesting indeed.

* * *

**A/N Longer chapter than usual. Got it out within a month's time.**

**Contrary to the last chapter, I'm actually really proud of how this one came out. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed that, even if it wasn't really my intention to "put my writing down." Just wasn't confident with how the last one turned out.**

**Not going to ramble on too much. Heads up, because there is a MASSIVE TIMESKIP NEXT CHAPTER. I am talking about years worth of time. We are going to be heading towards the beginnings of pre-UA, which is getting into the content from the first season of the anime.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed, and I just want to put this in there. It's been in my mind for too long, I can't get it out. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The Omake's here and throughout the story are purely crack ideas.**

**Omake: Smooth Criminal Muzan**

Tanjirou, controller in hand, tried once more his hand in browsing the television.

Again, how did people navigate through these things? So many little buttons, and they just know exactly what to press?

How?

The top red button turned it on and off. The very left button 5 rows down turned on a screen where you could select a specific thing on the screen.

And if you moved the "up page" panel, it made a whole new screen with new things on it!

He pushed his thumb on that button, but it slipped, and managed to land on the "select button"

"Ah. I didn't mean to do that."

What was this playing? "Smooth Criminal live performance by"...

No.

There's no way.

It couldn't be.

_MUZAN?_

He refused to believe it. Muzan was not in this world. It was purely coincidental.

He looked to the screen, and his eyes should have popped out of his head then and there.

He was wearing a shining silver suit. He had that same hat on as that day in Tokyo. He looked exactly like him.

"_So they came into the outway.._

_It was Sunday, what a Black day.."_

"Ryukyu-san, who is that on the screen right now?" Tanjirou shouted, his already high voice pitching even higher.

"Huh? That? That's Muzan Kibutsuji. He's one of the world's most famous singers. One of my favorites actually."

And so Tanjirou was forced to watch as Muzan turned into a pop-star on screen. His sworn enemy.

The controller broke in his hand, unable to withstand it's grasp.

**Yeah, that's it. Hope you found it funny.**

**See you all next time!**

**AN#2 Okay some people actually think the Omake is canon. Holy shit no it's not, its a crack idea and ISN'T CANON! It's literally there for the laughs. **


	8. Chapter 7

**If you didn't see the second AN I put in the last chapter, the Omake with Smooth Criminal Muzan Jackson was NOT actually part of the story. It was there as something to laugh at. That's what I meant as a "crack" idea. There's no way it can happen, and it's so unlikely to happen that the chances of me unironically fucking up the plot that badly is close to none. Don't worry about that. If there is any lingering doubt that Muzan is in this world of Heroes, no, he's not.**

**Also I realized that there was a massive continuity error in the chapter numbers in the title, since the Prologue was Chapter 1 on FFnet and Chapter 1 was Chapter 2 on FFnet, and so on. That has been fixed as of the moment I am typing this (before I started on the chapter), and it will numerically increase from there as this goes on.**

**I do not own Kimetsu no Yaiba or MHA**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

The entire hall watched the ongoing finals match in silence, as the two competitors held their shinai in the standard two-handed grip. They slowly rotated around, their focus never wavering from the tip of their opponent's weapon, and their bodies were ready to move at a moment's notice.

Silence. The two stopped moving.

One.

Two.

"KAAI!" The red-flagged kendōka made his move, the tip of the shinai flicking towards the right, and immediately arced down to the white-flagged kendōka's right side.

_Side._

"DŌ!"

The strike was intercepted with a single flick of the wrists, and the resulting clang of wood against wood echoed throughout the building. The two then continued a series of exchanges, both attempting to strike towards the _men_, or head, to try to create an opening. One on the defensive at one moment, then switching to the offensive, neither could break through the other's wall.

They then found their shinai locked together, connecting at the grip in a very common position, shinai pointed directly up.

The white kendōka drowned out the resulting noise by his steady breathing, focusing his energy on his brain, arms, and legs. He kept his reactions at the highest possible speed to detect any follow-up strikes that might occur. He trained his eyes on certain parts of his opponent's body, searching for any openings.

He could tell his opponent was skilled, incredibly so. He had to have been, to make it to the finals without giving up a single point to everyone he faced. His opponent must have practiced as hard as possible to get to the level of skill he was currently at.

But he was well aware that he couldn't discredit his own work and experiences. He had gone through many life and death experiences over many years of his own, making his spirit rock-solid. He had gone through the same rigorous training. There was no better road to improvement than going through these hard battles. They forced your body to adapt and accel to greater lengths than swinging a shinai in a dojo.

_His shinai is steadfast, and keeps mine locked in this position. If I try to go for men or dō, I will just give him an opening._

He had to keep his moves as precise as possible to allow for the highest chance of scoring a point faster than his opponent. Strikes to the side of the body generally left openings for a thrust to the neck. However, based off of the way his opponent kept his arm position, he was also well aware of that.

They could sense each other's _kisei_, or spirit, through their weapons. Spirit was a very important factor when it came to the entirety of Kendo in general. Lack of will could easily be taken advantage of to make the other falter, and the aggressor to score an easy point.

It was also one of the important rules. You must show fighting spirit in every strike by shouting beforehand.

Show no weakness. Concentrate on every slight movement, and take advantage of every opening or misstep.

One option that he could take was to falsify the weakening of the spirit in order to bait him into a premature strike. For that, he would need to put extreme faith that his reflexes would surpass everything else.

Luckily for him, he had many experiences with enemies with inhuman levels of agility.

He let his arms go slack, and slightly pushed forward in the opponent's direction. He felt the weight of the other side shift backwards, and the shinai disengaged.

"KAAAAAI!" The resounding shout was greater than the last in an attempt to weaken his spirit and stance further as the blade curved outwards and towards his left glove.

Breathe in.

His eyes left the opposing shinai, instead focusing on his own stance and attack. He stepped forward, shuffling his feet forward slightly while raising his arms, tensing his right while applying horizontal pressure to the left.

Breathe out.

"HAAAAAH!" Accelerating the tip with every ounce of the strength in his arms, he swung forward in the split second his opponent was in action.

It was now no longer a competition of defending against attacks. It was now a match of speed, of who could land their strike first.

His eyes didn't leave the left side of his head as the shinai impacted it. The head shifted to the right, signifying the impact made.

"MEN!"

"DŌ!"

Tanjirou didn't feel an impact on his side until an instant later.

He struck first. He won the final point. He won the match.

The referees on the side raised their flags. To win a point, two or more of the officials need to judge and agree that the strike had spirit, hit the correct place, and had correct posture. The official would raise the color of their flags corresponding to the ribbon worn by the person who would receive the point.

All three of the flags raised were white. The score was now 2-1. He had won.

Relief and joy flooded through him on the inside as he fought the urge to celebrate out loud. However, he knew he had to show _zanshin_, or continual awareness, even after the end of the match, so that his point does not get cancelled.

Both of the boys on the floor stood up, and lowered their shinai. They turned around and walked to the edge of the inner square on the center of the floor, faced each other, and crouched down. While their knees were bent, they flipped their shinai towards them in a standard sheath position, signifying the end of the fight. They stood back up, walked backwards a few steps, and bowed slightly, in a respectful way.

Applause rang out from every side of the gym, though the loudest centered around a select group of people on one corner of the audience. Tanjirou smiled lightly behind his helmet. His school's Kendo Club was, of course, watching in hope that their school would at least have one tournament to their name. Now that they finally obtained one, and one of their students was eligible for the nationals, they had everything to be excited about.

He walked back outside of the court towards the mat, where a dark-haired boy with small bear ears on his head sat cross-legged, reached towards the back of his head and untied the strip of cloth keeping the helmet on his head.

"That was amazing, Kamado! You actually managed to defend against him!" the boy complimented. "Even I couldn't see that coming! He had to have been at least 2nd dan!"

Tanjirou took his helmet off of his head, freeing up his hanafuda earrings and cherry-colored hair, and lightly shook his head, laughing off the praise. "Honestly, it wasn't anything too special, Fujimoto. I had to gamble on my strike landing faster than his to get the final point."

Akihiko Fujimoto, the captain of the Kendo Club at Musutafa Middle School, was in the same year as Tanjirou, who were currently in their third. Being one of the three members that was able to pass the 2nd dan alongside Tanjirou, he was a formidable opponent in the Dojo, as reflected in his placement in this regional tournament.

He and Tanjirou met in Primary school during 3rd grade, through Kendo. Not even counting the fact that they landed in the same class, they had very similar interests. Tanjirou could make friends with nearly all types of people, but Fujimoto was just someone you couldn't help but befriend.

"Still, you won! That's the first time someone from Musutafa Private's actually won the regionals!"

Tanjirou smiles brightly. "Yeah. I'm really glad it ended the way it did. It was a really good match."

They looked over towards the side of the audience, where the rest of the club were on their feet in the front row, waiting for them.

"Come on, Kamado, the rest of the crew's waiting!" Fujimoto beckoned him over with one hand, jogging away towards the awaiting students.

"I'm coming!" Tanjirou picked up his helmet and shinai, and made his way over, completely unaware of the coming assault.

"Kamado, you did it!"

"KAMADOOO!"

"You actually won it! You're gonna become a legend in the club now, dude!"

His knees nearly buckled as half of his club jumped on him from all sides. "Gah…. guys…. heavy… please….?" Unprepared for the weight of his club mates without Total Concentration Constant, he hurriedly activated his 'quirk'. His legs straightened as the muscles in his body contracted and strengthened, pushing everyone off of him.

The sport of Kendo didn't allow the use of any quirks, and if you were caught using one, it meant automatic disqualification from any and all tournaments. It gave an unfair advantage, which was why Tanjirou made sure to breathe regularly and only rely on techniques and natural speed.

Even if it wasn't a quirk, which sadly, in a futuristic society of superpowers, nobody would believe it wasn't.

"This definitely needs a celebration, dude! A party, or something, man! If there's an occasion that needs one, it's right now!" Another boy from the side yelled excitedly.

"Hah. I'm not sure if we can do that in school, they probably wouldn't let us," Fujimoto disputed. "It's mid-year anyway."

"Anyway, it's up to Kamado," the final member added. "You won it, dude. You want the party, or not?"

Tanjirou wasn't exactly one for parties or celebrations, the only ones he took part in being either his or his sibling's birthdays back home. A small cake or some sweets would do just fine. However in this world, things tended to be more grand. People could afford to throw massive festivals, as evident with traditions in schools across modern Japan. He didn't truly mind, as long as everyone enjoyed themselves.

"If I were to be honest, I'm seeing the same problem as Fujimoto. I don't think the school would allow us," he admitted. "But If you guys want to do it, then I don't have a problem."

A feminine but all-too-familiar voice interrupted their discussion. "Don't you boys think it's a bit too soon to be talking about celebrations yet?" A pair of hands latched onto Tanjirou's shoulders from behind him.

He turned around, despite instantly recognizing the voice.

It was the face of his "mother". Although he knew that technically wasn't true biologically, legally, it was. He liked to consider Ryuko more of a mentor and a good friend rather than a parental figure, as someone like Giyuu, for instance. After all, it was a bit strange for someone to be a parent when they were in their mid-twenties.

Or that's what Ryuko said. Her words, not his.

"Being called 'Mom' sounds so much more messed up than I expected. It makes me sound way older than I really am." Tanjirou knew from experience not to broach the subject of a woman's age.

So he just left it at that, and agreed to calling her by her given name "Ryuko" while in private. In public, or mainly when other people were in earshot, he would use other terms such as "Mom" or "Elder Sister" only to avoid Ryuko being recognized as a hero, which led to them being swamped in public due to her popularity, or just to avoid rumors and confusion during school.

Overall, he was thankful that there was even someone like Ryuko there for him in the first place. With her in his life, things were definitely much easier than they could have been.

"Woah, is that…"

"We're sorry, Tatsuma-san," Fujimoto quickly brought the attention onto him, well aware of what would have happened. "We just got too excited about Tanjirou winning the tournament."

Ryuko quickly brought her hands up. "Wait, that wasn't what I was saying, Fujimoto-kun. You can go ahead and celebrate, just it would probably be better to save the plans after the Award Ceremony."

Oh. The four boys sagged their shoulders when they heard her words. Award ceremonies.

Way to kill the mood.

Award ceremonies in Japan consisted of a lot of marching, standing, and bowing to the audience, players, and referees to show formality. It was fairly taxing, though not as much as the fights themselves were. Most of all, it was long.

Very very long.

"At least my little winner here will be able to get yet another trophy," she praised, while promptly grabbing Tanjirou by the side with one arm and pulling him close, crashing him into Ryuko's side.

"Man, Kamado, you're gonna get a trophy too? Wish I had that, it would look hella sick!" One of the other boys, Okamura, lamented.

Tanjirou quickly wrestled himself out of his guardian's grip. "I think everyone who made it to the qualifiers is going to get something, Okamura-san. That's why they have all those medals there." He pointed towards the stand in the very front, housing ornaments of medals, trophies, and other rewards.

"Speaking of which, everyone's starting to line up. It's about to start, they're going to call it up any second now…" Fujimoto muttered to the group, lowering his voice.

Sure enough, the organizers called for every available participant to line up in rows by school or placement in the tournament. Tanjirou and Fujimoto made their way towards the back, due to their placements in the final bracket of 16. Okamura and the final boy, Kurosawa, trudged to the front, along with others from the same school.

And so the minutes of standing commenced. The constant applause every minute hammered into his ears. The patience he was so well renowned for was currently being tested, slowly but surely withering away by the passing second. Yet his Taisho origin and teachings held firm as his face retained its neutrality.

Rows upon rows of students marched forward, around, and through the middle of the large, unmoving crowd to receive various medals. The distance between him and the announcers' table shortened more and more, until about 90 minutes in, they reached the row of the tournament qualifiers.

The quarter-finalists went up and out. So did the semi-finalists, where Fujimoto received his bright silver medal and walked to the back with a huge smile plastered on his face. Three people now remained, with two standing to the right of Tanjirou; a boy whom he eliminated in the prefinal, and the only other 2nd-dan who made it to the finals with him.

The two received their awards and applause, with their names being recognized and shouted out over the microphone, and walked to the back, leaving Tanjirou standing in the front on his lonesome.

"And finally, we have the winner of the Musutafu Kendo Regionals, Tanjirou Kamado-dono!" He bowed down from the waist, and felt a light strip of cloth fall over his head and onto his neck. Standing up, he took in his hands a fairly decent-sized trophy. He bowed to the ones that gave it to him, stepped forward a bit, faced the audience, and bowed towards them too.

_It's a lot bigger than I expected it to be! But this is still amazing!_

The officials turned around, and gave one last bow towards the audience, and after the final applause, everyone dispersed. Parents who were spectating collected their kids along with their shinai and bogū (Kendo uniform), and made their way outside to retreat back to the safety of their homes.

Tanjirou had his hands quite full as he made his way over to Ryuko, who was waiting near the entrance.

"You're going to need some help carrying that, you know," she commented.

He shook his head lightly, though due to the size of the trophy it was barely seen. "It's fine, Ryuko. It's not heavy at all."

"Well, I wasn't asking." She promptly took the trophy off of his hands, and made her way into her car. Seeing Tanjirou's slightly crestfallen face, she added, "I know this is important to you, but it wouldn't do if it broke, would it?"

He rearranged the formatting of the items in his hands, securing them in his grip better. He opened the door to the back and placed all of his belongings on the seat, and quickly hopped in the shotgun side.

"Damn, it's pretty late, isn't it?" He heard Ryuko mutter from his left. He glanced at the digital clock for a second, and his brow raised in surprise.

21:34. Even by Tanjirou's standards, it was quite late to be out. In a few hours, it would be prime time for villains to be out and about. Fortunately, Ryuko didn't have any sort of night duty on this day of the week.

"We came here at 15:00, right? That means we spent 6 hours here, on a Sunday…" Tanjirou trailed off. In all of the hustle and preparation for such a big tournament, he completely forgot he had school the next day.

Technological clocks were a significant change from the Taisho era to the Modern era. Although technology had advanced far enough back home to a point where they had standard sundial-type clocks, it was still a luxury-type item. The economy regulated it so that the rich, people who were able to afford anything and everything, hoarded all of the fresh and new items that had recently been invented.

After a set period of time when bigger and better things were available, the price of the former goods decreased, making them more accessible to the public. In a way, things still functioned the same way here, except the rich were now large-scale companies and heavily-funded Hero Agencies.

The Demon Slayer Corps, being government independent, didn't have its own budget as an organization, and did not see the need for such items, which was why they made do with looking to the sky for sun positions. It took quite a while for Tanjirou to get used to the time systems, but he eventually got the hang of it.

It was definitely the easiest thing to get used to, compared to everything else.

The ride home was quiet, and the roads were empty due to it being so late. He opened the window slightly to feel the sharp coolness of the wind brush over his face. He closed his eyes and leaned back, basking in the makeshift air-conditioning. The minutes ticked by, and the two entered their home, tired from the events of the day and more than willing to take it easy.

The humble abode that was Ryuko's house hadn't changed all that much since Tanjirou had first arrived. The differences that could easily be spotted downstairs were a few pictures dotted on the walls, or some tables of either a younger Ryuko or a younger Tanjirou. He wasn't a stickler for homes to be a specific "style", having that hammered out of him during his time as a Demon Slayer. He had grown more used to the modern feel of the residence, along with the numerous other technological additions and the modern accessories.

The main differences that were especially significant were the upstairs, or more specifically, Tanjirou's own room. A fairly decent-sized room, it had been refurbished to suit Tanjirou's needs, be it scholarly or personal. He preferred the room to be open, as he considered himself somewhat of a minimalist, but under Ryuko's insistence, it contained standard furniture in various places.

A sliding closet and a twin-sized bed stationed themselves in the corner of the room, towards the right side entering in, with a small nightstand next to it. A drawer dresser stood on the opposite side, towards the left facing to the center, big enough to store the majority of Tanjirou's belongings and other miscellaneous clothing articles.

A fairly large desk encompassed the majority of the far side, atop of it was a keyboard and laptop hooked up to a 24-inch monitor, bought under the guidance of his tech-savvy friend. It was mostly empty except for a couple of school books stacked on top of one another in the corner. A drawer was built into the side, containing all of his school supplies and essentials.

Entering the house, Tanjirou wasted no time in hustling towards his room, and standing in front of the largest cabinet in his room: his trophy and award collection. Filled with various medals and awards received from his school, competitions, and festivals, they were all polished until they shone with an incredible luminous quality. It was hard to take your eyes off of it once your eyes happened to glaze over it, like pseudo-hypnosis.

However, he was easily able to avert his attention from his existing awards, choosing in favor to be entranced by his newest and greatest accomplishment. A gold cup with various engravings on them, and a small pictogram of two figures in bogū, crossing shinai.

He opened the clear door, and placed it in front of the small awards he had been given from the past years: Academic Excellence, among with a few others. He paused for a few seconds, admiring the new look, and finally closed it.

After a small yet delicious celebratory dinner, courtesy of Ryuko, and a quick shower, Tanjirou leaned back in his bed under the comforts of his blankets, his room shrouded in darkness. His eyes were drawn to a familiar framed picture by his bedside. A small drawing of three figures, all contrasting colors. One with a black and green checkered haori, one with a bright-yellow haori covered in white triangles, and another with a boar mask, shirtless. It was of himself and his two friends, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira.

He drew it during a class in Primary School once, when he was thinking back on all the times he had spent with his first friends. Comrades, in a sense. Brothers-in-arms in the Demon Slayer Corps, even if they were a tad bit strange.

_I wonder what they're all doing now. Zenitsu, Inosuke, Giyuu. I wonder all the time, and it's been so long that it shouldn't matter to me… but it does. _

He never forgot about his past, even after the five years of living here, and it was evident based on numerous drawings of his, stashed away. His family, especially. His mother. Father. Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, Rokuta.

_I wonder what you all are up to, now that I know what can come after death. Maybe you're watching over me in this new world. I wonder if maybe one day, by some miracle, I can see you all again. I wonder if you will be able to see what I will become._

He closed his eyes, his brain slowing down. Images of a familiar face flashed in his mind's eye.

_It really makes me happy, knowing that I managed to give you a chance at happiness…_

His consciousness drifted away into dreamland once more.

_Nezuko._

* * *

The sun shone bright and early once more down on the normally calm city of Musutafu as Tanjirou opened the door, fitted into his white and black school uniform, his mind and body ready once more for another day of school.

"You have everything?" Ryuko's voice echoed in the house towards him as he fitted his outdoor shoes on.

"Yeah! I'm off!" He closed the door, and ran off down the street towards his school.

Over the years of living here, he had perfectly memorized every intersection, store, and shortcuts that the city provided. His normal tendencies of living in seclusion faded away rapidly as the standard city crowd became the norm to him. He no longer hesitated to delve into the masses, and his adjustment to modern society was fairly smooth.

Backpack strapped with him, he jumped over some metal bike-racks, and sprinted towards the corners of a fence, blocking off a pond. This particular one was strange. Two fences, each perpendicular to each other, both ended at the corner of a building. To get to the other side of the fence, away from Tanjirou's neighborhood, it would normally take around 10 minutes extra if you took a detour. However, if you had the agility to hop the corner, you could just get to the other side instantly. You didn't technically break a law by going into the pond below if you messed up the jump, and you saved a lot of time.

Or as Fujimoto had told him. His dad was a cop, he said.

Breathing in and tensing his legs, he swiftly jumped over the fences, using his hands to propel him even further. He landed smoothly on the other side, and continued running.

The back of the school came into view as Tanjirou ran through the small gate with around ten minutes to spare. Switching over to his indoor shoes, he placed all of his other belongings in his assigned locker and hurried over to his classroom, Class 4.

He knew that Kendo was quite a big thing in Japan, and especially among the students. They liked to follow sports a lot. Normally, the recognition for winning such a big tournament would have spread among the students, but today, something else, something far more important was taking place.

The career aptitude surveys and essays.

Third years in all schools had to fill up a survey and write an essay on what they want to do when they go to high school, where they want to go, and why.

People that had quirks that had some slight potential in combat or rescue usually gravitated towards Heroics as their first choice, and they put a middle to high-end Hero school in that slot, such as Seiai, Seijin, or maybe even Shiketsu. There were the occasional people who would choose U.A, but they usually got ridiculed, being told that it had a 0.2% admission rate, and only the best of the best and the truly gifted quirk-wise ever got that opportunity.

The ones with non-combat quirks usually decided that Heroics but nothing but a pipe-dream, and usually pursued some general studies courses or specialized schools, like Tech, Arts, General Education or maybe Heroics Support to create support items.

Tanjirou opened the door, and stepped into his classroom, though not before taking a slight peek in the door. Most of the students were already present, and the boys were at their desks, silent and deep in thought. Normally, there would always be some in the back corner, freely talking and lightening up the tension in the atmosphere. However, today, the silence was almost accentuating it.

That didn't mean it was totally unbearable. The usual group of girls, which centered around the star of the third year Mina Ashido, were in a rather large discussion about future prospects. It was loud enough that Tanjirou was able to catch quite a bit of their conversation from his spot in the room.

A more defined voice called out to him. "Yo, Kamado! Hurry up man!" Fujimoto waved his arm over.

Tanjirou snapped out of his daze and walked over. He set his bag down to the side and took a seat, picking his canteen out and taking a sip.

"You already know what you're going to put down?" Fujimoto asked. He was well aware of what Tanjirou wanted to be, of course. But like most other people, even he thought U.A was a stretch.

Tanjirou nodded in confirmation "Yeah. I'm choosing U.A for my first choice, and maybe Shiketsu for my second and something else to fill in the other spots."

Fujimoto let out a small sigh. "Even after all this time, I still have trouble believing you're trying to go for the national school. But I mean, your mom is literally the number nine, so…"

"Could you keep your voice a bit lower?" Tanjirou interjected, making quick glances around the classroom just in case anyone was listening in.

The fact that he was the adoptive son of the current number nine Hero was something that he didn't tell that many people. It was something that Ryuko herself warned him of, and if he let thy fact leak out, he would garner himself attention that he really didn't want or need. Only Fujimoto and some of his other friends like Okamura and Kurosawa knew up until recently.

Fujimoto's eyes widened "Crap, my bad," he apologized, lowering his voice. "Anyway, If anyone's gonna have an actual decent chance of getting into U.A, it's you."

"Even with potential help from Ryuko, it still doesn't make getting in any less difficult," Tanjirou pointed out.

"True." The two sat in silence for a bit, and Tanjirou looked up at the clock. 8:25. They had about 5 minutes until homeroom officially started.

Tanjirou changed the subject. "What about you? Do you have any ideas on what you want to do?"

Fujimoto scratched his head. "I'm going for a tech school, or maybe Hero Support. I'm sure I can get into some place, but what's the harm in aiming high? I heard U.A had pretty good support programs…"

Tanjirou nodded. Fujimoto always liked technology and engineering, far more than he himself did. He still had trouble to this day trying to use technology on a deep level, and all he could do was the basics. His friend was the one that introduced him to the wonders of tech in the first place, and the apparent wonders of gaming.

"Wait, hold up dude. I just had a thought." Fujimoto looked up at him, a smirk on his face. "After you graduate, and you make your agency, watch me come out as some sort of Support legend and hook you up with all kinds of things. Dude, we could actually make a pretty lit pair!"

"If I were to be honest, I'm probably not going to go too far in the realm of Support Items," Tanjirou replied. "The one thing that I would probably use as a hero is a sword, and that's it."

Fujimoto opened his mouth to reply, but it was drawn out by a girlish scream from behind them.

"MINA YOU'RE APPLYING TO U.A?"

The room turned silent as everyone's attention had diverted to the group. Ashido's hand came up to scratch her cheek, and she laughed awkwardly, clearly nervous at the sudden interest in their conversation. "Yeah, I figured I would give it a shot. It would be really cool if I would actually get in, ya know?"

The bystanders muttered in response, clearly amazed by her choice.

"U.A?"

"That's amazing?"

"What do you mean? That's stupid! Do you actually believe that anyone from here is gonna be able to do it?"

"If anyone can do it, it'd be Ashido!"

Fujimoto had his eyebrow raised at that. Turning back to Tanjirou, he offhandedly commented, "Well, it seems like you got competition. You reckon she can do it?"

He wasn't sure on top of his head. Mina Ashido was known around the students to have an incredibly flashy and versatile quirk, along with extremely good looks, according to the male variety.

He had seen her Acid in action, and it seemed like she had good control over it. As a Hero, she had many options available to her.

"I wouldn't be sure until we know what's on the actual admissions exam, but Ashido-san has a good quirk, and she has a lot of potential to become a great hero," he replied.

Fujimoto nodded. "You're right about that. She's got everything you need to be someone big. Not like she's got anything against you, of course. You'd probably smoke literally everyone with your skill with the sword. She wouldn't stand a chance against you one-on-one."

"Anything can happen during a fight. It all depends what approaches the other takes, and how much strategy one can bring to the table. Raw skill doesn't always equal success on the battlefield. The tides can very easily turn into anyone's favor."

The other boy sighed. "Well, if you say so, man. You know more than I do."

The door opened, and the class grew silent once more. A man with large spectacles and an ashen-gray suit stepped in, papers tucked under his arm. The homeroom teacher, despite his intimidating looks, was actually a very kind and lenient man. Having skill and intelligence on every field in spades, he was someone that all the students could depend upon.

He smoothly walked over to his large desk, and sat down on it. He was silent for a few minutes, and spoke in his usual deep voice.

"I assume you all know everything about what we will be doing today?" He questioned. The class turned their heads to each other, and nodded in confirmation.

The teacher continued on. "Good, but I will repeat it anyway just to make sure. You are to fill out your career survey forms, and write an essay on why you choose the path you did. I don't care what you choose, but make sure the path you take is one that you truly want to do, and one that you can see yourself doing with the skills that you have. That is all I have for you today."

He walked around with the stack of papers, and handed several sheets to every student. He passed by Tanjirou's desk, and paused next to it after he placed the papers down.

"Kamado."

"Yes, Sensei?"

Tanjirou lifted his head up, giving his attention to the teacher.

"Word is that you were the victor of the regional Kendo tournament. Do I presume that to be correct?"

"Yes. I did," he confirmed. "It was a hard competition, and everyone performed admirably."

The teacher smiled. "Well done." He continued passing out the assignment, and Tanjirou felt something kick his left foot. He looked towards Fujimoto, who gave him a thumbs up. Tanjirou returned it with a smile on his face.

The period passed by in complete silence, with everybody focusing on what would probably be the most important assignment they would get this year, barring final exams. Everyone did research on different high schools, and were given some examples and suggestions as reference.

The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom, and everyone let out a collective sigh and leaned back, clearly tired of the work they were doing. Chatter broke out once more, everyone conversing with each other on future school prospects and dreams. Tanjirou, sitting in silence along with Fujimoto, calmly finalized his research. U.A was a website frequented by pros and students alike, being such a staple for new heroes to enter in. The most ideal place to choose potential sidekicks from, everyone who even got into U.A were miniature celebrities in a sense, being put in front of the majority of Japan, even part internationally, for everyone to hear and see.

U.A, as Ryuko had definitely not failed to let him know, placed major emphasis on both standard education and Heroics, requiring above-average grades to get in. Luckily for Tanjirou, he was never one to slack off on his studies, and if you pay attention, even without the extreme studying habits of some elite schools such as Somei, you could get fairly high grades.

His mother, back in his world, had taught him and the rest of his siblings how to read, write, and do a small bit of math. That wasn't to say he knew everything about it, but he knew the basics not to fall behind as he got admitted to Primary School.

That wasn't even the strangest part of it. It was much stranger to him being around people that were so young, when he knew he was about 7 or 8 years older than them mentally. His behavior compared to them was such a stark contrast compared to the others that it worried some teachers, and his general silence often got mistaken for so many other issues. Though, that started to change when he met Fujimoto.

His behavior, compared to the Taisho era, was noticeably different. Normally, being someone with an outside upbringing, or as Zenitsu called a "country bumpkin", he had no idea about any societal norms, and often, according to outside eyes, behaved strangely at times. The longer he spent in this new world, the more that changed, though much had to do with his mental maturity. Currently at the mental age of 21, and physically 14, he had slowly adapted to fit in with everyone else, though keeping his Taisho core and upbringings with him.

The adaptation also included his school behavior, and how he did compared to the other kids. Excelling in Math, English, Japanese, and Gym, but doing rather decently, yet still above average in Calligraphy, Sciences, and Electives, he held a stable spot in his year's Top 20, occasionally breaking through to the Top 10.

The usual periods of rigorous academics passed by, and lunch came through, and the two boys were left mentally exhausted by the end of the four hours. They gradually exchanged small talk on their findings.

"I'm definitely going for the tech side," Fujimoto effused. "I mean, the requirements for some schools were actually kind of disappointing if you look at it objectively. They said you need "some degree" of experience in some languages, but all the ones listed are so similar, they could literally be the same thing!"

Naturally, Tanjirou found himself nodding along with him, despite not knowing anything about what he was saying. Sure, he knew the very basics of CS, given that they had it as an elective last year, but he knew he would never reach the level of genius that the juvenile tech support had.

"But man, U.A's got some insane requirements. I highly doubt I'll be able to pass it's support exam. Apparently they rely on 100% engineering skills, and they only accept the freakishly obsessive kind. You literally have to make up a Support item from scratch in your head and build it in an hour! First of all, the fucking time limit on that! Second, aren't we trying to learn how to build the goddamn item? Why the hell do we need to know how to already build it beforehand? Defeats the whole purpose of learning!"

Fujimoto looked around him, his body stiffening slightly, but then relaxed. "Shit that was pretty loud. What did you find?" He asked.

Tanjirou looked through the papers in front of him. "Well, my first choice is going to be U.A, of course. The Hero course application usually consists of a written test, which isn't easy, but not terribly difficult either. They also have a practical, which almost always consists of robots. The exact task isn't allowed to be leaked out, but there's going to be one problem." He let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

"You can only use your quirk, and you aren't allowed to use any support items unless it's absolutely necessary for your quirk."

"Damn. So you can't use your swords?"

"Nope. It does suck, but it makes sense. I just have to overcome it all, don't I?"

Fujimoto shook his head. "Easier said than done. You sure you can take out robots with your bare hands?"

Tanjirou shrugged. "I honestly don't know. But I'm curious!" Would his own limbs enhance with Total Concentration Breathing work on metal? The thought intrigued him. It would be much more preferable if he had his sword with him, so that he could cut through it, but not everything went his way.

The bell sounded out, and the two stood up, making their way to the gym for their next period. They got changed into their uniforms, and gathered outside. The board for their class mentioned…

"The indoor courts? Huh. We're doing a new unit?"

"Most likely," Tanjirou replied. "We just finished up Tennis, after all. I'm excited for this!"

"Of course you would be."

They both ran over, and entered the building, though not before taking off their shoes and socks, leaving them barefoot.

In front of them, was a bucket full of helmets, wrist guards, and…

"Shinai?" Tanjirou's head spun. Were they…

"Yooooooo. YOOOOOOO DUUUUDE!" His friend became more hyped by the second. "It's our time to shine!"

His spirits started to soar. They were finally about to do something that he genuinely enjoyed. Not that he was saying the rest of the units were boring, but still…

"Kendo unit?" One classmate muttered.

"Man, I'm so excited. I can't wait to win!"

"Idiot, look around you! See them over there? Fujimoto's the captain of the Kendo Club! He's like, the best there can be! And Kamado's an absolute monster on the court! I'm not sure anyone's been able to beat him!"

Tanjirou heard his name being spread around as they waited for the instructor to arrive.

"Isn't that Tanjirou Kamado?"

"Wasn't he the one who won the Musutafu Regionals?"

He should have expected it. The attention that winning the tournament would get would spread around and catch up to him, even if he made no mention of it.

"Alright, class!" The instructor came running in. The Gym teacher, a rather hyperactive lady with a face that resembled a crocodile except without the large snout, was someone who was extremely athletic, and apparently had tons of experience in all sports. Advisor to one of the bigger sports clubs, she could definitely teach a class.

"As you can clearly see, we will be starting the Kendo unit today. Since this is one of the most popular martial arts in Japan as of now, and most of you should have encountered it in some form before. But even if you know all about what it looks like and the rules, actually practicing it is something else entirely. It may look easy at first, but when you pick up the Shinai for the first time, you'll really see how much about it you don't know.

"There are many things about it that are essential, some of which include the grip on the Shinai, correct posture, and most important of all, footwork. Even one mistake can potentially cost you the entire match.

"A lot of people have misconceptions about what Kendo is about in the first place. The purpose of Kendo is not about improving your skill with the sword at all. It's about your character. This art originated far back in Japan's history, from the time of the Samurai. They carried themselves far differently, and placed a lot of emphasis on things such as honor and duty. People believe practicing this sport not only improves your physical health, but your mental health and how you act. They say it makes you a better person."

She looked around, and made sure she had everyone's attention.

"Good, now we'll start with the basics. But first, Kendo isn't a one-man sport. So….. I'm going to need a test dummy for this…. or maybe two…. hmmmmmm…."

The class looked down nervously. For this specific teacher, being the "test dummy" was something you wanted to avoid. It was a task that was tiring, incredibly stupid, and it took a hit on the soul, something nobody knew could have been a thing.

"Luckily, there are two people perfect for this demonstration…"

It wasn't hard to guess who they were.

Tanjirou swallowed nervously. He had faced Upper Moons, and had been face-to-face with serial villains in a 9-year-old's body, and yet…

The thought scared him. Why?

That was a good question.

But he couldn't avoid it. At least Fujimoto would be here to take the fall with him.

The pain…

* * *

"Ahhhhh…. that sucked…."

Back at home after school, Tanjirou laid face-up on his bed, still dressed in his white school uniform. P.E hadn't gone as well as it should have, as soon as he and Fujimoto were made "test dummies" for being the class's masters of Kendo that they were, they had to do all sorts of weird things.

_Kanroji-san, did you somehow find yourself in another world? _

It was so much like her version of the Hashira training that he struggled to believe that it was coincidental.

Ryuko was at her agency during this time of the day, so he was left home alone. Her boost in popularity mainly took place when his body was 11 years old, nearly 2 years into this world. The number of villains started to spike more and more, and she was there to solve most of them, along with her various sidekicks.

She started up her own agency soon after he was adopted by her, and she had spent less and less time at home. He had been there a few times himself, and the place was amazing, in his view. A large building downtown, it had many, many rooms with all sorts of training halls, offices, meeting rooms, and even Ryuko's very own workplace.

She would take him there once in a while so that he could see and know what to expect when he became a hero, and what working there would be like. The amount of paperwork was definitely an intimidating prospect, but it came a lot with managing an agency. There were also a lot of major projects going on that the agencies were tasked with, such as investigations on villain groups, forecasted disaster control planning, and more.

She had even recently taken on a new student from U.A for Work Studies. According to her, the student's name was Nejire Hado. She was one of the top of her year in U.A, and one of the earliest to get into a work study, which was usually left for late in the second year to third year. It's an amazing accomplishment for someone of her age.

Ryuko ended up rising throughout the Hero rankings in Japan, up until she ended up in the Number 9 spot. Her Dragon form became renown, and while in that form, it was extremely difficult for her to maintain some sort of solitude. That was somewhat protected by her regular human form, however, but even with her hero outfit, the claw on her face gave herself away most of the time. The only way to truly mask herself in public was to either put her hood up, or change up her hairstyle.

Apparently, she even had a fan club somewhere, which was dedicated to her and everything about her. They even had a website with every known detail about her, disregarding anything too personal, or as they claimed. For some reason, Tanjirou's name was on there, and they somehow got that detail, though that was an obscure fact. He usually never got recognized in public in that way.

He sat up from his bed after a while once he heard the growling of his stomach. He slammed the palm of his hand onto his fist, and shouted aloud, to no one.

"Alright, it's time to eat!" Kanroji always said that she and Tokito would eat a lot of food, and that it was a key to getting extremely strong.

He stood up and made his way down to the desolate kitchen, which at the moment was spotless. Opening the fridge, he took out some Yakisoba noodles, sauce, various vegetables, and the thin-sliced pork belly, along with the Yakisoba pan to put it all in. One of the first recipes he learned in the modern era, it was insanely good and filling to eat, and easy to make.

An hour and lots of cooking later, he had two steaming bowls of Yakisoba in front of him.

"Thanks for the meal." He put his hands in front of him along with his chopsticks, and dug into the meal.

XxX

Some time later, he stood outside with his steel training sword, and dressed in light, sleeveless clothes that were all black. The sky started to darken, and the wind running through his hair felt colder. He stood in the same way as he did five years ago, at the end of his first week in this world.

Back then, he was in his nine-year old body, and incapable of fighting at the level he was in during the Taisho period. All of his training, all of the improvements he made with Urokodaki, Sabito, and the Hashiras, all of the experience he had gained over the years, was brought down to naught.

Later on? He was back in the same body that he had before. He knew what to do. He had all of the steps there in front of him. He had done all of the training before. He just needed to re-implement it. It was grueling, it felt like you nearly died at times. The various training sessions with Iguro and Sanemi, the training with the Yoriichi-bot and Kotetsu made him stronger than he could ever imagine. There was even a saying in this world that summed it up.

"Whatever doesn't kill you….

Makes you stronger."

_Breathe in…._

_Breathe out…_

_**Total Concentration Breathing!**_

In a burst of speed, he drew out his Training Katana, and slashed it in front of him. He paused, and held it at eye level for a few seconds. The speed which he currently held was not completely what he used to have, though it was getting closer and closer by each passing day.

As of now? He had already redone his accuracy training with Iguro to the best of his ability. His sparring sessions with Giyuu in his mind. Even Himejima's training, in an area of the woods near the outskirts of the city, which only few were able to pass. It wasn't the same, but it was better than nothing.

He closed his eyes once more.

Recall the Repetitive Actions. Set your pre-determined movements. Raise your focus. Increase your heart rate and blood temperature.

_**Dance of the Fire God…**_

Images of his family passed by in his head once more. The most important words that he could recall were cycling in his head.

"_Set your heart ablaze!"_

"_I accept you, Tanjirou Kamado."_

"_Keep pushing, no matter what it takes, to complete your purpose."_

Pass the energy through every muscle fiber in your body. Take in as much oxygen as you can. Push your lungs to the limit.

Mix in all the styles that you know. Strengthen your dance.

_**Flame Dance!**_

He stepped forward, keeping as much weight off of his toes as possible, and flicked his sword upwards, and to the side immediately after.

Enter the zone. Block out everything unnecessary from your surroundings. Focus on yourself, your body, and go even faster. Even stronger.

Never stop.

He let his momentum carry him forwards even further, unconsciously letting his legs move. He spun on the spot, and slashed to the side, then upwards, forcing his sword into a blur, undetectable in the naked eye.

_**Soaring Flame Haze!**_

Keep pumping energy throughout your body. Remember everything everyone taught you.

Remember all the battles you faced.

He dug his feet into the ground, and dashed forward a few meters. He stepped on one foot and through his weight back, skating through the air, curving his blade in a deadly spiral.

_**Blue Heaven!**_

Landing on his feet, he twisted his body in a circular motion, flicking the sword in a horizontal slash, continuing the movement throughout the spin.

_**Fire Wheel!**_

He set his foot back, and his blade to his side. He bent his arm in a 90 degree angle, and set his left hand on the hilt. He held it in a two-handed grip, and thrusted forward with all his might.

_**Sunflower Thrust!**_

He stood still, keeping his blade level, arms still extended. He caught his breath for a couple of seconds, and stood back up.

Looking at what was needed to enter U.A, he needed to be at peak performance, or at least as high as his body would allow him. As Urokodaki had told him many times, continuous practice will never be fruitless. There is always something to be improved.

He needed to rely on his breathing and strength as he continued on his journey. He couldn't afford to get overconfident about his own abilities.

10 months. That was all the time he had left until the entrance exam for U.A. Everything that he had done will lead up to that moment.

He had to pass that. No matter what. In order to become the best that he can be, this is what he needed to do.

To fulfill his purpose.

* * *

**AN It's not exactly 10K words yet, but I don't know what else to add here without it sounding too boring. It was a slice-of-life ish chapter preluding U.A and basically all that Tanjirou has got to during this time.**

**So I need to bring up a few things. One, Tanjirou's character. We haven't seen that many instances in Demon Slayer where we can see Tanjirou's raw personality outside of any fights, training, etc. The whole story was focused on him during his time as a Demon Slayer, focusing on his training against upper moons, and the fights that last 30 chapters. The Tanjirou in this story, or more specifically in this chapter, is not the exact same in the Manga. I tried, but it was extremely hard to do so, and also, it wouldn't be logical. He spent 5 years as of now, and his personality and actions have changed. But what exactly did I change? The Tanjirou here will be the same as ever in normal interactions. He's still the extremely kind and empathetic boy we all know of, but the difference here is he has the factor of, how do I say this? Common sense? He now knows normal social etiquettes, and doesn't do occasionally questionable things, like **_**picking a tooth off of the ground and giving it to Genya**_**, that was a bruh moment not gonna lie. Also, people change a ton between the ages of 16 and 21, usually, they lose their edge factor, which Tanjirou didn't have in the first place, and they gain a little common sense. I just hope you guys see it as somewhat in-character, because it's hard to judge your own writing as the writer.**

**The second part is a question; Is there anything from the U.A entrance exams that can let Tanjirou use his swords? I'm pretty sure I remember it being specifically a test of the quirk, and if you aren't allowed support items, people like Shinsou could have had at least a shot at getting in using some sort of weapon. **

**That's pretty much it. There was more I wanted to say here, so I might update this part a bit later once I think of something.**

**Oh yeah, Kendo. I had to do some research on it, and it's actually really freaking great. It's definitely a very interesting thing to watch. As I put in the chapter, Kendo mainly focuses on character, not swordsmanship, but Tanjirou uses it for both, in his own way. His skill there in swordsmanship already helps him a ton on Kendo. So that might have a pretty decent impact on Tanjirou as a character.**

**And now, an Omake, which is NOT CANON may I mind you. Some people actually thought in the last chapter that Muzan was in this world for real… that hurt me inside a bit but at the same time, understandable. I didn't make it clear enough. But for this one… if you watch a lot of YouTube, you might know this one. But if you know, you know.**

* * *

Omake: Today's Climate

All for One lay in his chair, lamenting on all of the things that have happened to him.

His fight with All Might, the Eighth holder of One For All. That injury should have been equivalent to the one that he sustained currently, and even with all of the stabilizing and regeneration quirks he had active, he still couldn't do so much as move.

So it made him wonder, what would happen to All Might as the Symbol of Peace? Would be Even survive in the landscape of Heroism today?

"Hah, Hahahahaha!" It would certainly be a difficult endeavor, pun intended, for him to maintain what he has currently.

"When the people say they want to see All Might back to where he was before, I'd LOVE to see All Might try to exist in the landscape today."

These days, all anyone cared about was the public image. Rankings. All of the other trivial things that should not matter, yet they do. That injury…. would certainly take a toll on him and his image.

"The things that he used to be able to do would NEVER fly on what he is right now."

But truly, all in all…

"I'd love to see him succeed in today's climate."

**Thanks for reading!**

**AN#2 As soon as I clicked the "Submit" button, I completely forgot about this: I'm making another story! This one's going to be a pure MHA fic only, 10K words per chapter as usual, and the name for it will be "Temporal Chronomality". Try deciphering the meaning, it's the basic premise of the story.**

**AN#3 8/24/20 Plot twist, he didn't survive today's climate.**


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